Domestic violence increased by 16% in 2021, according to the Ministry of the Interior

Physical or sexual intra-family violence committed between members of the same family, excluding spouses or ex-spouses, increased by 16% in 2021 compared to 2020, according to a study published on Tuesday February 28 by the Ministry of the Interior. These figures continue the same increase in the number of victims reported since 2016, with even an acceleration in sexual violence.

In total, 64,300 victims of non-spousal intra-family violence, including 47,900 for physical violence and 16,400 for sexual violence, were identified by the police and the gendarmerie in 2021.

In detail, the increase in the number of victims is driven by reports of sexual violence (+26%), ahead of physical violence (+13%). These increases are part of “in a context of freedom of speech and improvement of the reception of victims by the services”according to the study.

Nearly 80% of victims are minors

“The share of victims denouncing old facts (…) is steadily increasing”, the report adds. Thus, many facts recorded in 2021 by law enforcement often relate to abuses committed several years earlier. For acts of intra-family sexual violence recorded and committed in 2021, the increase is 7%.

Regarding the victims, all forms of violence combined, nearly four out of five (79%) are minors and a very large half (59%) are women. Out of nearly 50,000 perpetrators identified, three-quarters (76%) are men, especially in the case of sexual violence (94%).

“The majority of victims of non-marital domestic violence do not report the facts to the security services”, recalls the Ministry of the Interior. Thus, according to the so-called “Genese” victimization survey, in 2020, only a third of adult victims reported this violence to the police or the gendarmerie.