Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2023-24

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2023-24.

The main findings include:

The police recorded 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse in 2023-24, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. This is the first year this figure has shown an increase since 2020-21.

In 2023-24, 38% of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police in Scotland included the recording of at least one crime or offence.

The type of crime or offence that was most frequently recorded as part of a domestic abuse incident in 2023-24 was Common assault, accounting for 31% of all crimes and offences recorded. This was followed by Crimes against public justice and Threatening and abusive behaviour, each accounting for 20% of crimes and offences.

Following its enactment on 1 April 2019, crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 accounted for 5% of crimes and offences recorded as part of a domestic abuse incident in 2023-24.

There were 116 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2023-24. At a local authority level, Dundee City (183), West Dunbartonshire (153) and West Lothian (149) recorded the highest incident rates per 10,000 population.

Where gender information was recorded, just over four-in-five incidents of domestic abuse (81%) in 2023-24 had a female victim and a male suspected perpetrator. This was the same as the previous two years.

In 2023-24, the 31 to 35 years old age group had the highest incident rate for both victims (267 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) and for the suspected perpetrators (233 incidents recorded per 10,000 population).

Just under a third of incidents (31%) occurred at the weekend in 2023-24. This is a slight decrease from 32% in 2022-23.

In 2023-24, nine-in-ten (90%) of all domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling where location was recorded.

Background

2. The full statistical publication can be accessed online.
3. Further Information on Crime and Justice statistics within Scotland can be accessed online.
4. Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff. Further information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be found online.