In 2023, 3,589 persons reported experiencing domestic violence or made use of services available within this area, the National Statistics Office (NSO) has said.

"Just over three quarters of services users (75.4%) in 2023 were female, while 24.6% were male. The majority of persons (59.3%) used any service only once during the reference year, with 23.6% using one or more services twice, and 17% using one or more services three times or more. 41.4% of females used any service more than once, compared with 38.5% of males," the NSO said.

During 2023, a total of 6,050 cases were registered by the different entities providing a form of service to persons experiencing domestic violence. In 2023, as in previous years, the main services used by persons experiencing domestic violence were the Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) within Aġenzija Appoġġ (2,557 registered cases) and the Malta Police Force, which received 2,244 reports during the year under review.

In 2023, 28.5% of the total cases registered across all services involved persons aged between 30 and 39 years old, while 26.8% involved persons aged 50 years old and over, the NSO said.

The majority, 83.4%, were cases involving Maltese nationals. The services with the highest number of foreign service users were domestic violence shelters at 44%, and the emergency health services at 30.1%, the NSO added.

The NSO said that nearly three quarters of cases (73.4%) reported across the different services providers involved psychological violence, while 41.3% involved physical violence. 13.9% of all reported cases involved either sexual, economic, and/or another form of violence, it saoid.

This news release also covered services targeting perpetrators of domestic violence. Data for 2023 includes the 'Stop!' programme and the 'Child to Parent Violence' service both provided by Aġenzija Appoġġ, the Department of Probation and Parole, and the Correctional Services Agency. "The majority of users of perpetrator services were male, with 'Stop!', the Department of Probation and Parole, and the Correctional Services Agency recording over 92% of their service users being male perpetrators. The 'Child to parent Violence' service saw the largest number of female service users at just over a third (34.6%). When looking at the unique number of persons using any service targeting perpetrators, 390 individuals used one or more services during 2023."