More than half of recipients of services for those experiencing domestic violence in 2019 were aged under 40, according to data published by the National Statistics Office on Thursday.

The NSO said 2,565 people used such services that year, 80.2% of whom were women.

Compared to 2016, the number of persons who in 2019 used services offered increased by 41.2%, from 1,816 to 2,565.

As in previous years, the services with the highest number of registered cases were the Domestic Violence Unit(DVU) within Aġenzija Appoġġ (1,870 cases) and the Police Department (1,532 cases).

The majority of service users were Maltese nationals. 

More than 90% of cases registered by shelters, Victim Support Malta (VSM) and the DVU were from people experiencing psychological violence, as were 50.7% of cases registered with the police. A further 47.3% of cases filed with the police were of persons experiencing physical violence.

The NSO also gave data regarding the perpetrators of domestic violence saying 144 individuals - 136 men and 8 women, used services for perpetrators.

Most were Maltese aged between 30 and 49 and most were Maltese.