The vast majority of those who reported domestic violence last year were again women, official data has confirmed. 

Tabled in Parliament on Tuesday by Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia, the data shows that last year, 1,546 domestic violence reports were reported to the police. The minister provided the information in reply to a question by PN MP Claudette Buttigieg. 

Of these, only 364 came from male victims, the remaining 1,182 were from women. 

Last year's figure was the highest since 2010, up from 1,397 in 2017.

The most common type of violence, the data shows, was that defined as psychological harm, followed by slight body harm "with physical force". 

On age groups, the data shows that while those aged between 18 and 59 were most likely to be victims - 1,055 women, 256 men - a number of people over the age of 60 also reported some form of domestic abuse. 

According to the data, there were 83 women over the age of 60 who filed such reports. The number of males over the age of 60 who reported abuse stood at 62.

And while there were more reports from female adults than men, reports by boys under the age of 18 surpassed those by the number by girls in the same age group. While there were 44 girls who about whom a report was filed, there were 46 boys. Last year's figure marked the first time in recent years that more boys reported abuse than girls. 

Despite the laws being updated in recent years to better protect those domestically abused, the numbers have continued on an upward trend.

While NGOs that work with victims have acknowledged that more awareness could result in an increase in the number of people coming forward to report abuse, they have often warned that victims often feel like abusers get away with impunity, with few offenders ever actually being found guilty of such crimes.