Domestic abuse: statistics recorded by the police in Scotland, 2024-25

Domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences

From 2024-25, domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences are now recorded on Police Scotland’s new crime management system (UNIFI) instead of the iVPD. Given this, it is not possible to provide a like-for-like comparison with previous years.

There were 39,711 domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences recorded by the police in 2024-25. The most common type was Common assault, accounting for 37%. This was followed by Threatening and abusive behaviour and Crimes against public justice, each accounting for 14% of domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences. (Figure 3 & Table 3).

Common assault accounted for over one-third of all domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences.

Figure 3: Most frequently recorded domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences, 2024-25

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 was enacted on the 1 April 2019. Crimes recorded under the Act accounted for 6% of domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences in 2024-25. The majority (94%) of these crimes were recorded as Domestic Abuse of female, with the remaining 6% recorded as Domestic Abuse of male.

Domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences per 10,000 population

Taking the population of Scotland as at mid-year 2024, there were 72 domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2024-25. At a local authority level, West Dunbartonshire (119), Dundee City (112) and Dumfries & Galloway (94) recorded the highest crime rates per 10,000 population. Shetland Islands (27) and Na h-Eileanan Siar (28) recorded the lowest rates per 10,000 population (Figure 4 & Table 4).

West Dunbartonshire has the highest rate of domestic abuse aggravated crimes recorded by the police per 10,000 population with Shetland Islands having the lowest rate.

Figure 4: Domestic abuse aggravated crimes recorded by the police per 10,000 population, by local authority, 2024-25.