Domestic abuse: statistics recorded by the police in Scotland, 2023 to 2024

Incidents of domestic abuse

The police recorded 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse in 2023-24, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year (Figure 1 & Table 1). This is the first year this figure has shown an increase since 2020-21.

Of the 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in 2023-24, 38% (24,144) included the recording of at least one crime or offence. This is a lower proportion than in previous years (Table 1). The remaining 62% (39,723) did not include the recording of a crime or offence. Section 5.3 in Annex 1 provides definitions of ‘crime’ and ‘offence’. Section 2.3 provides information on incidents which do not include a crime or offence.

The number of domestic abuse incidents have increased since 2022-23 but remain lower than the peak in 2020-21.

Figure 1: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, 2009-10 to 2023-24 

Note: See Annex 2 for information on the change in data source between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Incidents which included a crime or offence

For those domestic abuse incidents that included the recording of at least one crime or offence in 2023-24, the most frequently recorded was Common assault, accounting for 31% of all crimes and offences. This was followed by Crimes against public justice and Threatening and abusive behaviour, which each accounted for 20% of all crimes and offences (Figure 2 & Table 2)

Common assault accounted for around one-third of all crimes and offences for incidents of domestic abuse that involved a crime or offence.

Figure 2: Most frequently recorded crimes and offences as part of domestic abuse incidents, 2023-24

Note: An incident can have multiple crimes associated with it.

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 was enacted on the 1 April 2019. Crimes recorded under the Act accounted for 5% of crimes and offences recorded as part of a domestic abuse incident in 2023-24. This is similar to the proportion of crimes and offences in 2022-23 (also at 5%) but slightly higher than in previous years (at 4%). These amounted to 1,552 crimes recorded under the Act in 2023-24.

Section 1.2 on statistical impact provides further information on how crimes and offences might have changed due to the introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. Table 16 in the 'Supporting Documents' Excel workbook provides details on the characteristics of these incidents.

Incidents of domestic abuse by local authority

The number of police recorded domestic abuse incidents varied at the local authority level. Between 2022-23 and 2023-24, around a fifth (7) of local authorities recorded a decrease in domestic abuse incidents, two local authorities saw very little (less than 1%) change and almost three-quarters (23) recorded an increase (Table 3).

In 2023-24, the highest percentages of domestic abuse incidents that also included the recording of at least one crime or offence were in Moray (51%), Argyll and Bute (48%) and West Dunbartonshire (45%). Whilst the lowest were in East Dunbartonshire (31%), Highland (32%) and Angus (32%) (Figure 3 & Table 4).

Moray saw the highest percentage of domestic abuse incidents involving a crime or offence.

Figure 3: Percentage of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police which included at least one crime or offence being recorded, by local authority, 2023-24

Incidents of domestic abuse per 10,000 population

Taking the population of Scotland as at mid-year 2023, 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. Shetland Islands (46) and Na h-Eileanan Siar (47) recorded the lowest rates per 10,000 population (Figure 4 & Table 5).

Dundee has the largest number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police per 10,000 population with Shetland Islands having the lowest rate.

Figure 4: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police per 10,000 population, by local authority, 2023-24

Note: Population estimates are at mid-year 2023 published by the National Records of Scotland.

Gender of victim & suspected perpetrator

Where the victim’s gender was known, the clear majority of victims in 2023-24 (83%) were female. Over four-in-five incidents (81%) of domestic abuse in 2023-24 had a female victim and a male suspected perpetrator. This remained the same as in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Again, where the victim’s gender was known, 17% of victims in 2023-24 were male. In 2023-24, 15% of domestic abuse incidents involved a male victim and a female suspected perpetrator. This decreased slightly from 16% in 2022-23.

In the remaining 3% of domestic abuse incidents, the victim and suspected perpetrator were the same gender. This figure has remained relatively stable over several years (Figure 5 & Table 6).

Around 4 in 5 incidents of domestic abuse, where gender was known, had a female victim and male suspected perpetrator.

Figure 5: Gender of victim & suspected perpetrator, where known, 2014-15 to 2023-24

The figure only displays incidents where gender of victim and suspected perpetrator is known. See Annex 2 for more details on missing data.

Note: See Annex 2 for information on the change in data source between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Relationship between victim & suspected perpetrator

In 2023-24 half (50%) of domestic abuse incidents, where the relationship between the victim and suspected perpetrator was known, were between ex-partners. Just under half (49%) of incidents were between current partners. Current partner is defined here as spouse/civil partner, partner and co-habitee. Ex-partner is defined as ex-spouse/civil partner and ex-partner. For the remaining 1% of incidents, the relationship was categorised as ‘Other’ (Table 7).

It should be noted that the proportion of incidents where the relationship between the victim and suspected perpetrator was unknown had increased in recent years (peaking at 18% in 2021-22) before dropping to 15% in 2022-23 and has now increased to a new peak of 21% in 2023-24. This is due to changes in recording practice in Police Scotland, for which further information is available in Section 5.7.

Age of victim & suspected perpetrator

In 2023-24, the 31 to 35 year old age group had the highest rate per 10,000 population for victims (267 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) (Table 8).

Female victims aged 31 to 35 had the highest rate (441) of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police per 10,000 population. 31 to 35 was also the age group with the highest rate of domestic abuse incidents recorded per 10,000 population for male victims (84) (Figure 7 & Table 8).

In 2023-24, the 31 to 35 years old age group had the highest incident rate per 10,000 population for suspected perpetrators (233 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) (Table 9). This was the same for both male suspected perpetrators (399 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) and female suspected perpetrators (74 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) (Figure 6 & Table 9).

Females aged 31-35 had the highest rate per 10,000 population for victims, whereas males aged 31-35 had the highest rate for suspected perpetrators, where gender and age were known.

Figure 6: Gender and age of victim & suspected perpetrator, where known, 2023-24

The figure only displays incidents where gender of victim and suspected perpetrator is known. See Annex 2 for more details on missing data.

Note: Population estimates are at mid-year 2023 published by the National Records of Scotland.

Victim & suspected perpetrator repeat analysis

The iVPD enables the identification of a victim or suspected perpetrator that has previously been entered into the system for domestic abuse. A victim or suspected perpetrator can appear multiple times in the database in any one year, each classified as a separate incident.

As the iVPD was introduced and rolled out across the then 14 police divisions during 2013-14, the first and any subsequent reference to any victim or suspected perpetrator in the repeat categories below only refers to whether they were involved in an incident of domestic abuse from 2013-14 (part year depending on divisional roll out) and not in any years prior to the introduction of the iVPD. Each police division rolled out the iVPD at different times throughout 2013-14.

In 2023-24 there were 44,565 domestic abuse incidents with sufficient information recorded to allow repeat analysis (70% of all incidents). The remaining 19,302 incidents (or 30%) did not include sufficient information to confirm one way or the other whether at least one of either the victim or suspected perpetrator had previously been recorded in an incident of domestic abuse. Proportion calculated excluding incidents where information on previous history on iVPD is fully or partially not recorded.

For those incidents that did include sufficient information, 65% (or 28,952) had a victim and suspected perpetrator who had previously been recorded in an incident of domestic abuse – though these previously recorded incidents may have involved different partners/ex-partners. In a further 20% (8,802) of incidents, neither the victim nor the suspected perpetrator were found in the iVPD. In 15% (6,811) of incidents there was a mix of results for the victim and suspected perpetrator (i.e. only one of the victim or suspected perpetrator had previously been recorded) (Figure 7 & Table 10).

Around two-thirds of domestic abuse incidents in 2023-24 involved a victim and suspected perpetrator who had previously been recorded in a domestic abuse incident.

Figure 7: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by repeat victim/suspected perpetrator analysis, where known, 2023-24 

Location of incidents

In 2023-24, nine-in-ten (90%) domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling. This is similar to 2022-23 (also 90%). This figure can be split into 36% of incidents that occurred within the victim’s own home, 11% that occurred within a joint home and 5% that occurred in the suspected perpetrator’s home. Over a third (38%) of incidents occurred in an ‘other dwelling’. See Section 5.7 for further detail.

The remaining 10% of incidents occurred in the street (5%), licensed premises (0.6%) or an ‘Other’ location (5%) (Figure 8 & Table 11).

Around 9 out of 10 incidents occurred in a home or dwelling, where location was known.

Figure 8: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by location, where known, 2023-24

Day/month of occurrence

The following section is based on the date the incident of domestic abuse occurred, rather than when it was recorded by the police. See Section 5.5 in Annex 2 for more information on the process of logging incidents.

Just under a third (31%) of incidents in 2023-24 (Figure 9 & Table 14) occurred at the weekend, a slight decrease compared to the proportion in 2022-23 (32%). The remaining 69% of incidents are spread fairly evenly from Monday to Friday.

When looking at the month that incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police occurred in 2023-24 (Table 15), no clear pattern emerges from the data, with incidents fairly evenly spread out across the year.

Tables for incidents by month are available within the 'Supporting Documents' Excel workbook on the Domestic Abuse Statistics website.

Almost one third of domestic abuse incidents occurred over the weekend in 2023-24.

Figure 9: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by the day of the week the incident occurred, 2023-24