Domestic Violence Statistics

Here are some very interesting domestic violence statistics. These alarming statistics shed light on America's domestic violence problem:

Between 2 and 4 million women annually are victimized by domestic violence.

In 1991, at least 21,000 domestic violence crimes against women were reported to the police every week.

Approximately 52% of women visiting hospital emergency rooms report at least one incident of violence during their lifetime. 

Most children living in homes in which domestic violence occurs witness abuse and suffers secondary psychological effects, including: aggressive behavior and depression. Male children who witness abuse are more likely to become abusers themselves as adults, creating a vicious, intergenerational cycle of violent behavior.

A 1992 national survey by the Family Violence Prevention Fund found that their partner had physically attacked 13% of women surveyed.

According to the FBI, domestic violence claims the lives of four women each day.1

A Philadelphia study found that 20% of women presenting with injuries at emergency rooms were victims of domestic violence.2

A 1988 study by the National Women Abuse Prevention Project found that physical abuse of women resulted in more injuries to women than rape, muggings and automobile accidents combined.



In 1992, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported that 1 in 5 of all aggravated assaults reported to the police were aggravated assaults in the home.3

There exist 3 times more animal shelters than battered women's shelters in the United States.4

The rate at which women separated from their spouses suffered violent victimization was 128 per 1,000, or over 12 times that of never-married women, approximately twice that of divorced women, and more than 6 times the rate of married women.5

In 1991 at least 21,000 domestic crimes were reported against women every week.6

Women are 10 times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate.7

Domestic Violence Resources

National Domestic Violence Hotline 

Staffed 24 hours a day by trained counselors who can provide crisis assistance and information about shelters, legal advocacy, health care centers, and counseling. 

If you need help right now!
1-800-799-7233
1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network 

(RAINN) Hotline, 24 hours a day - 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
The Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network will automatically transfer you to the rape crisis center nearest you, anywhere in the nation. It can be used as a last resort if people cannot find a domestic violence shelter.

Search for your local rape crisis center online. 

U.S. Department of Justice Violence Against Women

For regional information and other resources, including government press releases and statements. Other shelter information can be found on our Sexual Assault Resources page.

Feminist Majority Foundation 

For more information on domestic violence, see the Feminist Majority Foundation Domestic Violence Information Center

1. "Violence Against Women: A National Crime Victimization Survey Report." Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, January 1994.
2. Medical Therapy as Repression: The Case of the Battered Woman and Wife Abuse: The Facts. Washington, DC: Center for Women's Policy Studies, 1984.
Flitcraft, Ann and Stark, Evan. (1978) "Notes on the Social Construction of Battering." Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography Vol. 10, pp. 82-83.
3,4,6, Violence Against Women: A Week in the Life of America. Washington, DC: Majority Staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Congress, 1992.
5. Sex Differences in Violent Victimization, 1994. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs and Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 1997, NCJ-164508
7. Violence Against Women in the United States. Washington, DC: NOW Web site.