Sexual assaults in Australia reach 31-year high

Sexual assaults in Australia have reached the highest level on record, new data has revealed.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday confirmed the number of sexual assaults recorded by police rose by 11 per cent in 2023.

This marked the twelfth straight annual rise in sexual assaults and the highest level the ABS has seen in more than 30 years of records.

In total, there were 36,318 victim-survivors of sexual assaults recorded by police across the country in 2023.

Head of crime and justice statistics at the ABS, Samantha McNally, said records of assault increased across almost all states and territories.

“Accounting for population growth, the rate of recorded sexual assault victim-survivors has gone up from 126 per 100,000 people last year, to 136 victim-survivors per 100,000 people,” she said.

“This is the highest rate of sexual assault victim-survivors recorded in our 31-year dataset.”

NSW and Queensland recorded the largest spike in assaults with a 19 per cent and 14 per cent rise respectively.

The vast majority of sexual assault victim-survivors were female, who accounted for 84 per cent of those impacted, and they were most commonly aged between 10 and 17.

More than two in three of sexual assaults took place in a residential location and 69 per cent of them were reported to police within a year.

Family and domestic violence-related sexual assaults made up almost two in five, or 14,059, of all sexual assaults reported to police.

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