London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jun 02, 2026

How many attacks on women are there?

How many attacks on women are there?

The disappearance of 33-year-old Sarah Everard in south London has led to a conversation about violence by men against women.

Many women have spoken about their fears and personal experiences.

How common are killings of women?


In the year to March 2020, 207 women were killed in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). This means about one in five killings were of women.

The number of female victims was lower than in the previous year, when 241 women were killed. This was the highest number in a decade.


Research from the Femicide Census - an organisation which collects information on men's violence against women - calculates that across the UK 1,425 women were killed by men in the 10 years to 2018.

That is about one killing every three days.

Who are the victims attacked by?


In the past decade, there were 4,493 male victims of killings and 2,075 female victims (31%) in England and Wales.

More than nine out of 10 killers were men.

About 57% of female victims were killed by someone they knew, most commonly a partner or ex-partner. This compares with 39% of men.


The other victims were either killed by strangers - 13% in the case of women and 30% among male victims - or no suspect has been identified.

More than 70% of women were killed in their own home - twice the figure for men.

What about other violent attacks?


In general, men are more likely to be victims of violence such as assault.

It is estimated that about 1.3% of women were victims of violent crime in the year ending March 2020, compared with 2% of men.

Most violent attacks are by people the victim knows - 92% in the case of women and 79% among men.

How common are sexual offences?


In 2017, the latest year for which figures are available, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that 3.4m women had been victims of sexual assault in their lives. This included one million who had been raped, or had faced attempted rape.

About 650,000 men had experienced sexual assault.


Sexual assault was most common among younger women with about one in 10 students saying they had experienced a sexual crime in the past year.

One in five women has been the victim of stalking since the age of 16 - twice the number for men.

The estimates used the Crime Survey for England and Wales. This involves interviewing thousands of people and is seen as the best way of measuring crimes including those not reported to the police.

How many of these crimes are solved?


The vast majority of sexual offences do not get solved. In fact, most sexual offences do not even get reported to the police.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales shows 151,000 people - including 144,000 women - were victims of rape or attempted rape in the last year for which these figures are available.

But just 55,000 rapes were actually reported to the police last year.

In the same year, just 1,439 people were actually convicted of rape. This was the lowest number since figures started being released in 2014-15.



What about sexual harassment?


Official statistics don't provide estimates of how many women face sexual harassment.

However, surveys suggest the problem is common.

A recent YouGov poll for UN Women found that seven out of 10 of women had experienced some form of sexual harassment in public.

This number was nearly nine out of 10 for younger women.

The survey found:

*  Over half of women had experienced catcalling

*  Four out of 10 had been groped or faced unwelcome touching

*  A third of women had been followed

*  One in five had faced indecent exposure

Another YouGov survey, in 2016, found that half of women had been victims of sexual harassment at work, most often through inappropriate comments or touching.

How common is domestic abuse?


Last year, it was estimated that 1.6m women in England and Wales were victims of domestic abuse. There were 757,000 male victims.

These figures include all forms of abuse, including physical, emotional and financial.

There has been an increase in domestic abuse since lockdowns began in March of last year.


There were 444,000 domestic abuse-related crimes - against both men and women - in England and Wales between April and September.

This was almost one in five crimes recorded.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×