Nearly a third of women in England and Wales were abused as a child, along with just over a quarter of men, according to new figures which for the first time include emotional, physical or sexual abuse as well as neglect.
The data from the office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that 31.5% of women and 26.4% of men experienced some form of a child, a 13.6 million – almost three in 10 – people.
Emotional abuse was the most common type of childhood abuse experienced by adults (22.7%), followed by physical abuse (16.5%), sexual abuse (9.1%) and 11.1%).
Ons Head of Crime Statistics, Meghan Elkin, said:
“Current figures estimate around three out of 10 people aged 18 years and over have experienced abuse during childhood, and it is very important to support the decision.”
About 7.5 million women and 6.1 million men experienced abuse, with higher rates for women in all types of abuse except physical, where there is no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, no significant difference, the ons said.
The biggest gender difference is in sexual abuse, with one in seven women experiencing this type of abuse before the age of 18 (13.9%), compared to one year (4.1%).
The majority of abusers are sexually abused by men, with 91.3% of all victims saying their abuser was male, and 94.2% of female victims being abused only by men.
Anna Edmundson, the NSPCC’s head of policy, said the charity was working with a new survey to help with this new data.
“Clearer views on how safe children are, and it has become important to ensure governments where to target support and funding to prevent and fund child abuse,” he said.
“Child abuse does not discriminate. Any child, from any background, can be affected. That’s why we need a relentless focus to ensure that every child can be safe, supported, and happy.”
The data shows that LGBTQ+ people are not affected by childhood abuse, with 48.1% of bisexual people, compared to 27.7% of heterosexual people.
More than half (53.4%) of people with a gender identity different from the sex registered at birth are people who are related to their sex at birth (28.9%).
Ben Kernighan, Co-CEO of the LGBTQ + anti-abuse charity galop, said that research shows abuse in the UK, and the majority of their identity is the main reason, or part of the reasoning, for the abuse.
People with disabilities also reported higher rates of childhood abuse, at 42% compared to 26.4% for those without disabilities.
People from a mixed background reported childhood abuse rates of 40.2%, higher than those of a white (31%) or ethnicity (14.7%).
The estimates are based on responses collected for the crime survey for England and Wales in the year March 2024, and the first of them was childhood abuse.
In the survey, emotional abuse is defined as “persistent emotional abuse of a child” by an adult, and neglects a parent or guardian, or does not manage a child adequately.