Despite repeated alerts and campaigns, domestic violence has not declined in France. The police and gendarmerie services recorded 208,000 victims of domestic violence in 2021, an increase of 21% compared to 2020, according to data from the statistical service of the Ministry of the Interior (SSMSI) released on Thursday.
Two thirds of this violence is physical violence, a little less than a third is psychological or verbal violence, notes the SSMSI, which adds that recorded domestic sexual violence is very infrequent. Already in 2020, nearly 160,000 victims had been identified, including 139,200 women, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
Domestic violence had increased by 10% during the first confinement – if we take into account the date of the commission of the facts – compared to the same period in 2019. This violence had decreased by 13% over the period of the second confinement.