Domestic abuse: statistics recorded by the police in Scotland - 2018/19

Key Points

• Levels of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland have remained relatively stable since 2011-12, with around 58,000 to 61,000 incidents a year. The police recorded 60,641 incidents of domestic abuse in 2018-19, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year.
• In 2018-19, 41% of incidents of domestic abuse 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 2018-19 was Common assault (accounting for 36% of all crimes and offences recorded). This was followed by Breach of the peace etc. accounting for 29% of crimes and offences.
• There were 112 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2018-19. At a local authority level, Dundee City (157), West Dunbartonshire (148) and Glasgow City (147) recorded the highest incident rates per 10,000 population. The Shetland Islands (52) and East Renfrewshire (54) recorded the lowest rates per 10,000 population.
• Where gender information was recorded, around four out of every five incidents of domestic abuse in 2018-19 had a female victim and a male accused. This proportion has remained very stable since 2011-12.
• In 2018-19, 16% of domestic abuse incidents involved a male victim and a female accused (where gender was recorded). Again, this proportion has remained stable since 2011-12 (ranging from 16% to 18%).
• In 2018-19, the 26-30 years old age group had the highest incident rate for victims (263 incidents recorded per 10,000 population). The 31-35 years old age group had the highest incident rate for the accused (246 incidents recorded per 10,000 population).
• Recorded incidents of domestic abuse were higher on a Saturday or Sunday than on any other day of the week (with these two days together accounting for 35% of incidents in 2018-19).
• In 2018-19, 88% of all domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling.

Infographic

Infographic text

60,641 incidents of domestic abuse were recorded by the police in 2018-19

Who were the victims?

In 2018-19, more than 4 out of 5 (83%) victims of domestic abuse were female. 

What was the gender of the victims and accused?

82% of incidents involved a female victim and a male accused

16% of incidents involved a male victim and a female accused

In the remaining 2% of cases, both the victim and accused were the same gender.

Where did incidents occur?

88% of domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling.

39% of domestic abuse incidents occurred in the victim’s home

When did incidents occur?

35% of domestic incidents occurred at the weekend.