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Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence

The data in this chapter is from the Sexual Violence Survey completed in 2022.

The survey focused on respondents’ experiences of a broad spectrum of sexual violence and harassment experiences in their lifetime. Sexual violence is defined in this survey as a range of non-consensual experiences, from non-contact experiences to non-consensual sexual intercourse. The word “violence” is sometimes associated with the use of force. However, “violence” can also mean having a marked or powerful effect on someone. The experiences detailed below range across a variety of experiences up to and including those which result in the most serious violations of personal dignity.

National Helplines

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this survey, help is available from the following national helplines or from local/regional helplines which you can find in the Sexual Violence Survey's Background Notes.

Proportion (%) who had experience of sexual violence by sex
Proportion (%) who had experience of sexual violence by sex
Proportion (%) who had an experience of sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner by location of experience and sex
Proportion (%) who had an experience of sexual violence as an adult with a non-partner by location of experience and sex
Disclosure rates (%) for those persons aged 18 and over who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime by sex
Disclosure rates (%) for those persons aged 18 and over who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime by sex
Disclosure rates (%) for persons aged 18 years and over who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime by age and sex

Age Group refers to the age of the person at the time of the survey, not the age at the experience of sexual violence nor age at time of disclosure

Disclosure rates (%) for persons aged 18 years and over who experienced sexual violence in their lifetime by age and sex