STATISTICS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN CANADA

• Over the past 5 years, 8 % of women report that they have experienced violence by an intimate partner.
• On average, 73 women are murdered by their husbands every year. This is more than three times the number of men who are murdered by their wives.
• Only 37% of female victims of spousal violence reported incidents to police.
• 11% of women who reported at least 1 incidence of spousal violence in the previous year went to a shelter or transition house.
• Since 2000, the rate of spousal violence against women has decreased while the rate of violence against women by their boyfriends has increased. Abuse often begins in the teen years and young 20’s.
• The most likely victims of domestic violence include: women under the age of 25, aboriginal women, women in lower-income households.
• Violence often begins or gets worse in pregnancy and as a result, women are placed at risk for low birth weight babies and pre-term labour. 40% of physical assaults start during pregnancy.
• Children who are exposed to violence in the home may suffer from emotional trauma, poor health, and trouble learning at school.
• In almost 40% of domestic violence situations, children see or hear the violence as it is happening.  In many cases, the violence is severe.
   
  

VIOLENCE: THE TRUTH

• Violence against women happens in all cultures and religions, all ethnic and racial communities, at every age, and every income group.
• At least one woman is killed by her partner every 6 days in Canada.
• A report by UNICEF found that each year in Canada, an estimated 362,000 children witness or experience family violence.
• A survey by the Canadian Women’s Foundation says that 67% of Canadians know at least one woman who has been physically or sexually assaulted.
• On any given day in Canada, more than 3,300 women and 3,000 children sleep in an emergency shelter like Tearmann House to escape domestic violence.
• The most cited study from Statistics Canada says that 51% of Canadian women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16.
• According to the Department of Justice, it costs $7.4 billion to deal with the aftermath of spousal violence in Canada.
• Abuse is still kept behind closed doors in our country.  Only 22% of victims of spousal violence report their abuse to the police in Canada and less than 10% of women report sexual assault.