Proportion of women and girls aged 16 to 59 subjected to sexual assault in the last 12 months

Sub-categories

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Headline data

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Geographical Area: England and Wales

Unit of Measurement: Percentage (%)

Footnote: 1. Data broken down by 'place of occurrence', 'relationship with perpetrator' and 'frequency of sexual assault' are based on rape or assault by penetration (including attempts) experienced since the age of 16. If the victim had experienced more than one sexual assault, the most recent incident was reported for place of occurrence and relationship with perpetrator. These data use the number of women and girls who were victims of sexual assault as the denominator. 2. Data for some ethnic groups are unavailable due to small sample sizes. 3. Relationship with perpetrator - Other known includes date, friend, neighbour, an acquaintance (outside work or school/college/university), person in a position of trust or authority (not at work, school or university), colleague/peer from work or school/college/university. Percentages may sum to more than 100, as multiple perpetrators could be identified.

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from UK statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from UK statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other UK-specific metadata information.

Indicator available

Proportion of women and girls aged 16 to 59 subjected to sexual assault in the last 12 months

Indicator description

Percentage of women who have been sexually assaulted in the last 12 months.

Geographical coverage

England and Wales

Unit of measurement

Percentage (%)

Definitions

Sexual violence for this data refers to any sexual violence, including attempts.</p><p>Disability Status - The (GSS) harmonised “core” definition identifies a person as disabled if they have a physical or mental health condition or illness that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months or more. It must reduce their ability to carry-out day-to-day activities. It is important to note that a person who has a long-term illness that does not reduce their ability to carry-out day-to-day activities is not disabled under the definition. The GSS harmonised questions are asked of the respondent in the survey, meaning that disability status is self-reported. The GSS definition is designed to reflect the definitions that appear in legal terms in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) for Northern Ireland and the 2010 Equality Act for Great Britain.</p>

Available disaggregations
Calculations

No calculations were performed in the data acquisition of this indicator as appropriate data was readily available in the final format specified by this indicator.

Other information

For details of the Crime Survey for England and Wales, see the user guide to crime statistics for England and Wales.

The year format refers to the two years covered by the data, from April of the first year to March of the following year. For example, 2018/19 covers the period of April 2018 to March 2019.

For further information on the quality of the estimates please refer to the source data which provides the unweighted base sizes of the samples.

The sample size is lower between 2010/11 and 2012/13, and between 2017/18 and 2018/19 due to use of a split-sample experiment in these years. The methodological note titled Split sample for intimate personal violence 2013-14 provides further information.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales includes a 'Nature of serious sexual assault' module where detailed data on sexual violence is collected every 3 years. This module was last included in the 2016/17 survey. Therefore detailed breakdowns such as 'place of occurrence' and 'relationship with the perpetrator' are available for 2016/17 only. This module is only asked of respondents who have experienced rape or assault by penetration (including attempts) since the age of 16.

The Washington Group on Disability Statistics are often used to provide a cross-nationally comparable population-based measures of disability. Please see the article Measuring disability - comparing approaches for a comparison between the GSS Harmonised measure (used here) and the Washington Group measure.

This indicator is being used as an approximation of the UN SDG Indicator. Where possible, we will work to identify or develop UK data to meet the global indicator specification. This indicator has been identified in collaboration with topic experts.

Data last updated 03 February 2022
Metadata last updated 03 February 2022

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name

Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence

Target name

Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

Global indicator description
UN designated tier

Tier II

UN custodian agency

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Link to UN metadata United Nations Sustainable Development Goals metadata for target 5.2 opens in a new window

Source 1

Organisation

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Periodicity

Annual

Earliest available data

2004/05

Geographical coverage

England and Wales

Link to data source Sexual offences - appendix tables opens in a new window
Release date 08 February 2018
Next release

TBC

Statistical classification

National Statistic

Contact details

crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk

Other information

Data acquired from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (Tables - 4, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17).

Source 2

Organisation

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Periodicity

Annual

Earliest available data

2004/05

Geographical coverage

England and Wales

Link to data source Percentage of adults aged 16 to 59 who were victims of sexual assault (including attempts) in the last year, by selected personal or household characteristics and sex, year ending March 2018, CSEW opens in a new window
Release date 02 September 2019
Next release

TBC

Statistical classification

National Statistic

Contact details

crimestatistics@ons.gov.uk

Other information

Data acquired from the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

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