Cases of domestic violence against women increased in Germany in 2023, according to a new study by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) released on Tuesday.
180,715 women were reported to be victims of domestic violence in 2023, a 5.6% increase over the previous year, according to the agency.
“Facts and statistics show that hatred and violence against women is a growing social problem,” said Michael Kretschmer, vice president of the BKA, when he presented the report on Tuesday in Berlin.
Kretschmer said online misogyny has been a “cause” of violence against women.
Overall, women and girls account for 70.5% of all reported victims of domestic violence, according to the BKA.
Investigators also believe that a large number of cases are not reported to the authorities, especially incidents of digital abuse and intimate partner violence.
The BKA also recorded an increase in sex crimes. In 2023, 52,330 women and girls are victims of sexual violence – 6.2% more than in 2022.
According to these statistics, half of the victims are under the age of 18.
Kretschmer emphasized that investigators see an increase in all crimes against women by 2023. This also applies to the count of attempted and completed femicide, a crime commonly referred to as femicide.
In 2023, 938 girls and women became victims of attempted or femicide, which is 1% more than in 2022. A total of 360 women and girls died as a result.
In intimate partner murders, 80.6% of all victims are women, according to the report.
Kretschmer went on to explain that the risk of being a victim of homicide increases with age. The report found that women aged 60 to 80 were the most affected.
Another surprising finding: the number of crimes based exclusively on stereotypes increased by more than 56 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.
The report found that 322 crimes against women were recorded where the motive for the crime was based solely on discrimination against women or women's gender.
According to the report, German authorities classify those incidents as political crimes – including insults (150), incitement to hatred (46) and coercion or threats (24). In 2022, there were a total of 206 cases of this type.
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