Useful Statistics

• Since 2014, reported adult rape offences have increased by over 40%.
• Since 2014, reported child rape offences have increased by over 55%. 

West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner January 2020

• In the UK, 1 in 5 women will experience sexual assault during her lifetime. Globally this rises to 1 in 3.
• The Crime Survey of England and Wales estimates 20% of women and 4% of men have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16, equivalent to an estimated 3.4 million female victims and 631,000 male victims.
• 5 in 6 victims (83%) did not report their experiences to the police.
• An estimated 3.1% of women (510,000) and 0.8% of men (138,000) aged 16-59 experienced sexual assault in the last year.
• The number of men and boys aged 13 years old and over reporting a sexual assault has increased by 57% from 3,445 in 2015/16 to 5,394 in 2017/18.
• The number of men and boys aged 13 years old and over reporting a sexual assault has increased by 57% from 3,445 in 2015/16 to 5,394 in 2017/18

Home Office Factsheet (March 2019)

• The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that 7.5% of adults aged 18 to 74 years experienced sexual abuse before the age of 16 years (3.1 million people); this includes both adult and child perpetrators.
• The abuse was most likely to have been perpetrated by a friend or acquaintance (37%); around a third (30%) were sexually abused by a stranger.
• The majority of victims did not tell anyone about their sexual abuse at the time, with “embarrassment” being the most common reason.
• In the year ending March 2019, the police in England and Wales recorded 73,260 sexual offences where there are data to identify the victim was a child.
• At 31 March 2019, 2,230 children in England were the subject of a child protection plan (CPP) and 120 children in Wales were on the child protection register (CPR) for experience or risk of sexual abuse.
• Sexual abuse has become the most common type of abuse counselled by Childline in recent years; it was also the most commonly reported type of abuse by adults calling the National Association for People Abused in Childhood’s (NAPAC’s) helpline in the year ending March 2019.

Links to more information:

Rape Crisis England & Wales – Sexual violence statistics

Devon Rape Crisis & Sexual Abuse Service – Myths facts and statistics

ONS – Office for National Statistics – CSA 2019

NSPCC – CSA Statistics   

CPS – Annual violence against women and girls report