People who experienced sexual violence

3.3 People have equal, healthy, and respectful relationships.

Decreased prevalence of sexual violence.

Proportion of people who experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months.

A decrease in the prevalence of sexual violence over time will indicate that people are choosing to use less or no violence. 

Prevalence data relate to the number of people who have experienced violence, not the number of people who have perpetrated violence, or the severity or frequency of violence.

2021–22

Number of people who experienced sexual violence in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Data element: Person—experienced violence
Data source: ABS PSS
Data source type: Survey

Number of people aged 18 years and over.

Data element : Person
Data source: ABS PSS
Data source type: Survey

This measure is the number of people who experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months expressed as a percentage of all people aged 18 years and over in Australia.

100 × (Numerator/Denominator)

For each reference period, nationally, by: 

• state and territory
• sex 
• age (for younger women and older women)
• remoteness.

For disaggregated data, the reference period will be extended to 2 years where required to allow for more reliable reporting. 

Sexual violence includes sexual assault and sexual threat. 
Statistics will not be reported if they have a high relative standard error and are considered too unreliable to measure changes over time.
Statistics will not be reported if they have a high relative standard error and are considered too unreliable to measure changes over time.

For some population groups, numbers may be too small to be reported on separately.  
Where necessary, the reference period will be combined to 2 years to allow for more reliable reporting. 
State and territory data in 2021–22 are only available for women. 
Where the RSE for numbers and estimates is between 25% and 50%, this will be indicated in the data visualisation and any accompanying data tables. Where the RSE is greater than 50%, the data will not be published.