Domestic violence goes up by 7% in 2019

There were 10,600 victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence offences reported to the authorities in 2019, which is seven per cent more than the corresponding figure in the previous year, said Statistics Finland.

Half of the incidents of domestic violence and intimate partner violence directed at adults took place between married or cohabiting couples.

Of the victims, 75 per cent were adults. In all, 24.6 per cent were children and the age of 0.3 per cent is unknown. Of the adult victims, 76.8 per cent were women. Of all the suspects, 78.2 per cent were men. The statistics include only cases reported to the authorities. And by no means, all cases of domestic violence and intimate partner violence are reported to the authorities.

In all, 37.8 per cent of domestic violence and intimate partner violence recorded in 2019 was violence between married or cohabiting couples, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than that in 2018.

The share has fallen slightly compared to the early 2010s. In 2019, slightly under one-sixth of the incidents of domestic violence and intimate partner violence took place between previously married or cohabiting couples.

In slightly over 80 per cent of the cases of violence between married or cohabiting couples and previously married or cohabiting couples, the victim was a woman. Violence between married or cohabiting couples and previously married or cohabiting couples increased by good 300 cases (6.4 per cent) year on year .

In 2019, the number of cases reported was 5,700. In these statistics, persons are considered previously cohabiting couples, if they had lived together in the year preceding the statistical reference year but not in that year.