Department of Justice

Statistics on Spousal Abuse

A national survey in Canada found that:

  • One in four women have been assaulted by a current or previous intimate partner. Three-quarters of these women had also been emotionally abused.
  • Women with a disability or a disabling health problem were at greater risk of being abused.
  • The rate of wife assault for women aged 18 to 24 is four times the national average.
  • Twenty-one per cent of women abused by a marital partner were assaulted during pregnancy. Forty per cent of these women said the abuse began during pregnancy.
  • Children witnessed violence against their mothers in almost 40 per cent of cases.
  • In a majority of violent episodes the abuse of alcohol was a factor.
  • One-third of women who were assaulted feared for their lives at some point during the abusive relationship.
    Almost one-half of cases resulted in physical injury to the woman.
  • Eighty-five per cent of women who had been assaulted said they experienced negative emotional effects like anger, fear, becoming less trusting, lowered self-esteem.

Reported in Karen Hodges, "Wife Assault: The Findings of a National Survey," Juristat, Vol.1, no. 9, March 1994.