Almost 3,000 people used government services that help victims of domestic violence, new figures by the National Statistics Office show.

Women made up the overwhelming number of people using such services. Around 2,300 women reached out to the Domestic Violence Unit within Aġenzija Appoġġ and the Police, making up 79% of the total cases.

54 women ended up in the emergency room following a domestic violence incident, while a further 105 ended up in shelters. 

When it comes to men, around 610 males made use of the domestic violence services, eight of whom ended up in hospital. No details were given on the aggressors.

The number of victims is relatively equal across all age demographics, giving some indication of how widespread the issue is. The numbers, however, do fail to tell the whole story with countless victims still living in silence.

The figures cover 2020. It appears that the number of reports has steadily increased since 2016 when 1,816 people used the service. However, that might be due to increased awareness of the issue which has led to more victims coming forward.

Still, other studies showed that domestic violence did increase during the COVID-19 pandemic given that victims were confined to their homes often in close proximity to their aggressors.

Meanwhile, recent figures show that over 96% of domestic violence court cases in Malta fail to result in a conviction, with the vast majority of proceedings “exhausted”.

What do you think of the figures?