One in three victims of family violence is male. See our infographic and statistics pages for dozens of statistics that support this figure.
Most men experiencing current partner violence never tell anybody. Australian Bureau of Statistics 4906.0 - Personal Safety, Australia, 2012, Table 23 EXPERIENCE OF PARTNER VIOLENCE(a) SINCE THE AGE OF 15, Whether ever told anyone about partner violence. 54.1% of males have never told anyone about violence by their current partner since the age of 15.
One in three protection orders are issued to protect males. In NSW, the number of persons protected by Domestic Apprehended Violence Orders issued April 2019 to March 2020 were male 14,139 (31%) and female 31,179 (69%). In Victoria, affected family members on original FVIO applications 2018 to 2019 were male 21,006 (36%) and female 37,041 (64%). In Queensland, applications lodged: gender of aggrieved, 2019 to 2020 year to date were male 6,932 (27%) Female 19,186 (73%).
Almost one in four young people have seen mum hit dad. The Crime Prevention Survey (2001) surveyed young people aged 12 to 20 and found that 22% of young people were aware of physical domestic violence against their fathers or step-fathers by their mothers or step-mothers (“thrown something at him”, “tried to hit him”, “hit him”, “threatened him with or used a knife or fired a gun”).
Almost one in three hospitalised victims of family violence are male. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2017) found that 29.6% (almost one in three) victims of hospitalised family violence (from a spouse or domestic partner, parent or other family member) in Australia from 1999–00 to 2012–13 were male. There were extraordinarily high numbers of males (8,708) compared to females (1,580) where no perpetrator type was recorded. It is likely that more data is captured for female injury victims because of the compulsory domestic violence screening programs in place for women only in hospitals across Australia. The male reticence to name the perpetrator of injury when it is an intimate partner also probably plays a part.
One male is a victim of domestic homicide every 8 days. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2021 (2022) found that in 2021, males comprised just under half (42% - 44 victims) of all victims of Family and Domestic Violence-related homicides. That’s an average of one male victim every 8.3 days.
Women and men are just as likely to say they have experienced emotional abuse by a partner. The Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Safety 2016 found that in the 12 months prior to the survey, women and men were just as likely to report experiencing emotional abuse by a current and/or previous partner (4.8% or 451,500 women and 4.2% or 381,200 men).
Adolescent females and males are equally likely to say they have experienced domestic violence. The Crime Prevention Survey (2001) surveyed young people aged 12 to 20 and found that an almost identical proportion of young females (16%) and young males (15%) answered “yes” to the statement “I’ve experienced domestic violence”.