The study included 5,695 people who were surveyed on different types of violence experienced in the last five years and during their lifetime as a whole.

In the survey, 13% of respondents said they had experienced physical violence in the last five years. This was up from 9% in a 2013 survey. The number of people reporting being the victim of sexual violence grew from 4% in 2013 to 6% in the 2019/2020 study, which the report published on Thursday is based on.

While the rising numbers could indicate an increase in violence, Statec warned that they could also be due to more openness among participants to talk about and report incidents.

More than a quarter of respondents (26%) said they had been the victim of psychological violence in the last five years. This was not assessed in the previous study.

Looking at their entire life, nearly half of respondents (47.9%) said they have experienced psychological violence, compared to 32.2% having experienced physical violence and 17% experiencing sexual violence.

Violence against women

However, while 12% of women were subject to rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives, this number was at just 3% for men. Around 4% of women said they had been forced to participate in degrading sexual acts, or an attempt was made. This number was at around 1% for men.

Nearly one in five women said they had been groped or touched without consent, or someone had exposed themselves in front of them, with less than 5% of men reporting this kind of violence in the study.

There was no relevant statistical difference in education level of people saying they had experienced sexual violence. People from different educational backgrounds were victim of physical violence at similar rates, the study concluded. However, people with higher education levels were more likely to report psychological violence.