Domestic violence in Germany on the rise, government report reveals

BERLIN (AA) – The number of victims of domestic violence in Germany increased 3.4% in the last five years, and the vast majority of the victims were women, according to a government report released on Thursday.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, together with Family Minister Lisa Paus and Holger Münch, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office, presented the criminal report of domestic violence for 2021 in Berlin.

According to the report, although the number of victims of domestic violence decreased 3% from 2020 to 2021, it increased 3.4% overall over the past five years, from 138,893 in 2017 to 143,604 last year.

Most of violence was inflicted on women, while the perpetrators were mostly men: In 2021, 80.3% of victims were female, while 78.8% of suspects were male.

Commenting on the analysis, Faeser said: "We must never accept violence against women. Instead, we must confront it resolutely! For us as an open and democratic country, equality between men and women is an indispensable part of our social foundation of values."

She added: "Men who commit violence against women, whether psychological or physical, are criminals. Criminals that we prosecute with all severity. Because what they do is abhorrent and fundamentally opposed to our basic societal values."

In 2021, according to the report, 369 people were recorded as victims of attempted and completed murder and manslaughter (0.3%). The number of victims in completed murder and manslaughter was 121, including 109 females and 12 males.

In addition, there were four cases of assault resulting in death due to intimate partner violence for females and two cases for males. Thus, 113 females and 14 males were victims of intimate partner violence resulting in death.