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

Incidents of domestic abuse

The police recorded 64,967 incidents of domestic abuse in 2024-25, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year (Figure 1 & Table 1). Despite increasing over the latest two years, this figure remains below the peak recorded in 2020-21.

The number of domestic abuse incidents have increased since 2022-23 but remain lower than the peak in 2020-21.

Figure 1: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, 2010-11 to 2024-25 

Note: See Annex 2 for information on the change in data source between 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Incidents of domestic abuse per 10,000 population

Taking the population of Scotland as at mid-year 2024, there were 117 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2024-25. At a local authority level, Dundee City (189), West Dunbartonshire (163) and West Lothian (145) recorded the highest incident rates per 10,000 population. Shetland Islands (48) and East Dunbartonshire (61) recorded the lowest rates per 10,000 population (Figure 2 & Table 2).

Dundee has the largest number of domestic abuse incidents recorded by the police per 10,000 population with Shetland Islands having the lowest rate.

Figure 2: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police per 10,000 population, by local authority, 2024-25

Note: Population estimates are at mid-year 2024 published by the National Records of Scotland.