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Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Main Results

Overall Prevalence

CSO statistical publication, 19 April 2023, 11am

National Helplines

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this survey, help is available from the following national helplines or from local/regional helplines which you can find in the Background Notes.

The Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Main Results was published on 19 April 2023. Data within the publication were revised on 1 June 2023. These data revisions were due to a formatting issue. All content relating to the tables, including the text of the statistical release, Press Conference presentation and PxStat tables (data.cso.ie), now reflect the revised data.

Details as to the extent of these revisions on previously published data can be found in the Information Note Sexual Violence Survey - Main Results.

Overall prevalence of sexual violence

The chapter outlines summary details of the prevalence of sexual violence in Ireland. Lifetime prevalence in this context refers to the proportion of the population who have ever experienced sexual violence. Sexual violence is defined as a range of non-consensual experiences from non-contact experiences to non-consensual sexual intercourse. See the Background Notes for further details.

The data in this chapter is based on those who reported having experienced sexual violence at some point in their lifetime, as well as data on those who reported having not experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. Where the text refers to sexual violence experienced as an adult, it covers experiences which occurred over the age of consent in Ireland (17 years). Where the text refers to sexual violence experienced as a child, it covers unwanted experiences which occurred under the age of consent in Ireland (17 years) which were reported in the survey by respondents who were all aged 18 or over (it covers the sexual violence they experienced as a child – it does not cover current levels of child sexual violence). When the text refers to an experience in their lifetime it means that the person experienced this at least once in the lifetime – either an adult or child experience.

Overall, women reported having experienced higher levels of sexual violence than men. The data also highlights a clear sex and age difference in terms of experiences of sexual violence, with younger people reported having experienced sexual violence at higher levels than older persons. Women aged 18-24 reported the highest levels of sexual violence experienced in their lifetime at 65% compared with 17% for men aged 65 and over. See Table 3.1.

65%

of women aged 18-24

reported sexual violence experienced in their lifetime

Source: CSO Ireland, Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Main Results

Four in ten adults (40%) reported experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime

Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence:

Four in ten adults (40%) experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. Close to three in ten adults experienced sexual violence as an adult (26%) and as a child (29%). See Table 3.1.
Women experienced higher levels of sexual violence in their lifetime (52%) than men (28%). Similarly, women reported experiencing higher levels of sexual violence as an adult (39%) than men (12%) - over three times the rate. See Figure 3.1.
Rates for women who experienced sexual violence as a child (36%) or as an adult (39%) are similar. However, men experienced sexual violence as a child (22%) at a rate which was almost double the rate as an adult (12%).
In general, younger people reported experiencing sexual violence at a higher rate than older people. Over five in ten (52%) younger people aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence in their lifetime compared with almost three in ten (27%) aged 65 and over. People aged 25-34 experienced the highest rate of sexual violence as an adult (36%) compared with 13% of those aged 65 and over. See Figure 3.2.
For those aged 18-24, three in ten (33%) men experienced sexual violence as a child compared with five in ten (49%) women in this age group.
Younger men aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence in their lifetime (39%) at almost double the rate of those men aged 65 and over (17%). Similarly, younger women aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence in their lifetime (65%) at a far higher rate than those aged 65 and over (35%).
No reply was given to these questions by 7% of respondents to experiences as an adult and 12% of respondents to experiences as a child.

X-axis label	Male	Female
As an adult	12	39
As a child	22	36
In their lifetime	28	52

X-axis label	At least once in their lifetime
18-24	52
25-34	47
35-44	43
45-54	39
55-64	38
65 years and over	27

Table 3.1 Experience of sexual violence by sex and age group, 2022

Table 3.1 Experience of sexual violence¹ by sex and age group^{2, 3}, 2022
% of persons aged 18 years and over
Sex/Age group²	Experience of sexual violence
	As an adult⁴			As a child⁵			In their lifetime⁶
	Yes	No	Not stated⁷	Yes	No	Not stated⁷	Yes	No	Not stated⁷
State	26	67	7	29	59	12	40	53	7

Sex
Male	12	80	7	22	67	11	28	65	7
Female	39	54	7	36	52	12	52	42	7

Age group
18-24	32	62	6	41	48	12	52	43	6
25-34	36	57	7	27	59	14	47	46	7
35-44	31	61	8	29	58	13	43	49	8
45-54	26	66	7	30	59	11	39	53	7
55-64	21	75	4	29	64	7	38	58	4
65 years and over	13	78	9	22	65	13	27	65	9

Male age group
18-24	15	80	5	33	57	10	39	56	5
25-34	22	72	6	23	65	12	35	59	6
35-44	13	76	11	21	63	16	28	61	11
45-54	11	81	8	20	69	11	24	68	8
55-64	10	86	4	22	71	7	28	68	4
65 years and over	5	86	9	16	73	11	17	74	9

Female age group
18-24	51	43	6	49	38	13	65	30	6
25-34	50	42	8	31	53	15	59	33	8
35-44	47	48	5	36	54	10	56	38	5
45-54	41	51	7	40	49	12	54	39	7
55-64	32	63	4	36	57	7	48	48	4
65 years and over	20	71	9	28	58	14	35	56	8
¹Sexual violence is defined as a range of non-consensual experiences from non-contact experiences to non-consensual sexual intercourse. See Background Notes for further details.
² The age group category classifies the age the respondent was when they answered the survey.
³ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
⁴ Experience of sexual violence as an adult refers to those experienced over the age of consent (17 years and over). See Background Notes for further details.
⁵ Experience of sexual violence as a child refers to those experienced under the age of consent (17 years). See Background Notes for further details.
⁶Experience of sexual violence in their lifetime refers to those who experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, whether as an adult or as a child or both. See Background Notes for further details.
⁷ This represents the proportion of respondents who did not answer the question. In this voluntary survey, given the particular sensitivities of the questions being asked, respondents could skip questions they did not wish to answer. See Background Notes for further details.

Open in Excel: Sexual Violence Survey 2022 - Main Results Table 3.1 (XLS 13KB)

Women almost four times more likely to have experienced sexual violence both as an adult and as a child than men

Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence by the stage in life when it occurred:

Women almost four times more likely to have experienced sexual violence both as an adult and as a child (23%) than men (6%). See Figure 3.3 and Table 3.2.
Overall, 15% of adults experienced sexual violence as an adult and as a child compared with 11% of adults who experienced sexual violence as an adult-only and 14% who experienced it as a child-only.
Women experienced sexual violence as an adult-only at over twice the rate of men (16% compared with 6%). See Figure 3.3.
Young people aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence both as an adult and as a child (22%) at a higher rate than as an adult-only (11%) or as a child-only (19%). This pattern was different for those aged 65 and over - older people reported experiencing sexual violence as a child-only (14%) at a higher rate than as an adult-only (4%) or as both an adult and a child (8%).
Young women (aged 18-24) experienced sexual violence both as an adult and as a child (35%) at almost four times the rate that young men did (9%). Young men experienced sexual violence as a child-only (24%) at a higher rate than young women (14%).
No reply was given to these questions by 7% of respondents.

X-axis label	Male	Female
As an adult-only	6	16
As a child-only	15	12
Both as an adult and a child	6	23

Table 3.2 Experience of sexual violence by stage in life when it occurred, 2022

Table 3.2 Experience of sexual violence¹ by stage in life when it occurred^2,3, 2022
% of persons aged 18 years and over
Sex/Age group²	Experienced sexual violence
	As an adult-only⁴	As a child-only⁵	Both as an adult and as a child⁶	No experience of sexual violence	Not stated⁷	Total
State	11	14	15	53	7	100

Sex
Male	6	15	6	65	7	100
Female	16	12	23	42	7	100

Age group
18-24	11	19	22	43	6	100
25-34	20	11	16	46	7	100
35-44	14	12	17	49	8	100
45-54	9	13	17	53	7	100
55-64	9	17	12	58	4	100
65 years and over	4	14	8	65	9	100

Male age group
18-24	6	24	9	56	5	100
25-34	12	14	9	59	6	100
35-44	7	15	7	61	11	100
45-54	5	13	6	68	8	100
55-64	6	18	4	68	4	100
65 years and over	1	12	4	74	9	100

Female age group
18-24	16	14	35	30	6	100
25-34	27	9	23	33	8	100
35-44	21	9	26	38	5	100
45-54	14	13	27	39	7	100
55-64	12	16	20	48	4	100
65 years and over	7	15	13	56	8	100
¹Sexual violence is defined as a range of non-consensual experiences from non-contact experiences to non-consensual sexual intercourse. See Background Notes for further details.
² The age group category classifies the age the respondent was when they answered the survey.
³ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
⁴ Experience of sexual violence as an adult refers to those experienced over the age of consent (17 years and over). See Background Notes for further details.
⁵ Experience of sexual violence as a child refers to those experienced under the age of consent (17 years). See Background Notes for further details.
⁶Experience of sexual violence in their lifetime refers to those who experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, whether as an adult or as a child or both. See Background Notes for further details.
⁷ This represents the proportion of respondents who did not answer the question. In this voluntary survey, given the particular sensitivities of the questions being asked, respondents could skip questions they did not wish to answer. See Background Notes for further details.

Open in Excel: Sexual Violence Survey 2022 - Main Results Table 3.2 (XLS 12KB)

One in five women reported experiencing non-consensual sexual intercourse in their lifetime

Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence by the type of experience:

One in five (21%) women experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse at least once in their lifetime. Non-consensual sexual intercourse is defined as sexual intercourse where the person was coerced, threatened or forced into having sex. Women experienced four times the rate of non-consensual sexual intercourse (21%) than men (5%) over their lifetime. Women experienced over three times the rate of attempted non-consensual sexual intercourse (23%) than men (7%). Across all types of sexual violence experiences, women experienced higher rates than men. See Figure 3.4 and Table 3.3.
Adults experienced over double the rate of non-consensual sexual touching in their lifetime (30%) than non-consensual sexual intercourse (13%). Over four in ten women (43%) experienced non-consensual sexual touching in their lifetime compared with around two in ten men (17%). Non-consensual sexual touching includes instances where a person ever had their breasts and/or genitals touched by a someone without consent or were made to touch someone else’s breasts and/or genitals without their consent.
Overall, those aged 65 and over reported experiencing the lowest rates across all types of sexual violence experiences. The highest rate for this age group across the types of sexual violence experiences was the one in five (21%) who experienced non-consensual sexual touching.
People aged 25-34 reported experiencing the highest rates across all types of sexual violence experiences except for non-consensual sexual non-contact. Sexual non-contact experiences include being shown pornographic material, being asked to pose in a sexually suggestive manner for photographs, having someone expose themselves or someone masturbating in front of a child. The most prevalent experience for this age group was non-consensual sexual touching, experienced by almost four in ten (37%) adults.
In general, reported rates of sexual violence experienced decreases by age for women. Three in ten (31%) women aged 25-34 experienced non-consensual sexual intercourse compared with one in ten (10%) of those aged 65 and over. Five in ten (52%) of women aged 18-24 experienced non-consensual sexual touching compared with three in ten (28%) of those aged 65 and over.
The most prevalent sexual violence experience for men was non-consensual sexual non-contact experiences – experienced by 28% of young men (aged 18-24). The equivalent rate for women was 40%.
Further details on the type of sexual violence experience by the stage in life when it occurred is available in the Adult Experiences and Childhood Experienes chapters and specifically in Tables 4.2 and 5.2.

X-axis label	Male	Female
Sexual intercourse	5	21
Attempted sexual intercourse	7	23
Sexual touching	17	43
Other sexual contact	10	30
Sexual non-contact	16	25

Table 3.3 Lifetime experience of sexual violence by type of experience, 2022

Table 3.3 Lifetime¹ experience of sexual violence² by type of experience^{3, 4}, 2022
% of persons aged 18 years and over
Sex/Age group⁵	Type of non-consensual sexual violence experienced in their lifetime
	Sexual intercourse			Attempted sexual intercourse			Sexual touching			Other sexual contact			Sexual non-contact
	Yes	No	Not stated⁶	Yes	No	Not stated⁶	Yes	No	Not stated⁶	Yes	No	Not stated⁶	Yes	No	Not stated⁶
State	13	80	7	15	77	8	30	63	7	21	72	8	20	68	12

Sex
Male	5	88	8	7	85	8	17	75	7	10	81	8	16	73	11
Female	21	72	7	23	69	7	43	51	7	30	63	7	25	63	12

Age group
18-24	14	80	6	16	77	6	36	59	6	23	71	6	33	55	12
25-34	19	73	8	21	71	8	37	56	7	28	64	8	21	65	14
35-44	15	77	9	17	73	9	32	60	8	22	69	9	20	67	13
45-54	13	79	8	16	76	8	30	63	7	21	71	8	20	68	11
55-64	11	85	4	14	81	5	29	67	4	19	77	4	19	74	7
65 years and over	6	85	9	8	83	9	21	70	9	13	78	9	14	73	13

Male age group
18-24	5	90	6	8	86	6	20	74	5	9	85	6	28	62	10
25-34	8	86	7	11	82	7	21	73	6	16	77	7	19	69	12
35-44	4	84	12	6	81	13	17	72	11	9	78	13	16	68	16
45-54	5	87	8	6	85	9	15	78	8	10	81	9	15	74	11
55-64	5	91	4	8	88	4	19	77	4	11	85	4	12	81	7
65 years and over	1	90	9	2	88	10	14	77	9	7	83	10	8	81	11

Female age group
18-24	25	70	6	25	68	7	51	43	6	37	57	6	40	47	13
25-34	31	60	8	31	61	9	52	40	8	40	51	8	23	62	15
35-44	24	70	5	27	67	6	46	49	5	34	60	6	24	66	10
45-54	21	71	8	25	67	8	45	48	7	31	61	8	26	62	12
55-64	17	79	5	21	75	5	38	58	4	26	70	5	25	67	7
65 years and over	10	81	8	13	78	9	28	63	9	18	73	9	19	67	14
¹ Experience of sexual violence in their lifetime refers to those who experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, whether as an adult or as a child or both. See Background Notes for further details.
²Sexual violence is defined in this survey as a range of non-consensual experiences from non-contact experiences to non-consensual sexual intercourse. See Background Notes for further details.
³ Definitions for each type of experience are detailed in the Background Notes. Adults may have experienced more than one type of experience in one sexual violence episode or in many episodes. Note that non-consensual sexual touching refers to someone touching a person’s breasts/genitals without their consent or being made to touch another's breasts/genitals. Non-consensual other sexual contact includes other not specified sexual contact which was attempted or occurred.
⁴ Please note data may not add to 100% due to rounding issues.
⁵ The age group category classifies the age the respondent was when they answered the survey.
⁶ This represents the proportion of respondents who did not answer the question. In this voluntary survey, given the particular sensitivities of the questions being asked, respondents could skip questions they did not wish to answer. See Background Notes for further details.