According to latest data from the National Statistics Office, in 2023, 3,589 individuals reported experiencing domestic violence or made use of services available within this area in Malta and Gozo.

Of the persons making use of services offered to persons experiencing domestic violence, 75.4% were females and 24.6% were males.

390 persons made use of services available for perpetrators – 90.3% were males.

The NSO noted that 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 17.0% 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.

There were 6,050 cases registered last year by the different entities providing a form of service to persons experiencing domestic violence. As in previous years, the main services used by persons experiencing domestic violence were the Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) within Agenzija Appogg (2,557 registered cases) and the Malta Police Force, which received 2,244 reports during the year under review, the NSO said.

Today’s data also revealed that the majority, 83.4%, were cases involving Maltese nationals. The services with the highest number of foreign service users were domestic violence shelters at 44.0% and the emergency health services at 30.1%.

The NSO also noted 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.

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 last year.

It was explained that the ‘Stop!’ programme and the ‘Child to Parent Violence’ service are both provided by Agenzija Appogg.

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