Around one in seven people aged 16 years and over in England and Wales have been a victim of stalking at least once, figures suggest.
Here are some of the key statistics, according to the latest available data:
– Overall experiences of stalking
A total of 14.4% of people aged 16 and over are likely to have experienced stalking at some point in their lives.
This figure is based on responses collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of its most recent crime survey of England and Wales, which was carried out in the year to March 2024.
Around one in 20 (5.2%) people are likely to have been stalked by a partner or ex-partner, while around one in 50 (2.2%) have been stalked by a family member.
– Long-term trends
Some 3.2% of people aged 16 and over said they had experienced stalking in the past 12 months as of March 2024, down slightly from 3.4% in the previous year.
The figure of 3.2% is equivalent to around 1.5 million people across England and Wales.
Older historical data is available only for people aged 16 to 59.
This shows the long-term trend has been broadly flat over the last decade, with the proportion each year ranging between 3.5% and 4.7% of this age group, including 3.8% in 2023/24.
By contrast, the number of stalking offences recorded by the police has “risen dramatically” over this period, which is likely to reflect “improvements to police recording practices, changes to Home Office counting rules and victims’ willingness to come forward”, the ONS said.
Despite these rises, the number of police-recorded stalking offences remains well below levels reported in the survey, with 129,076 offences recorded in the year ending March 2024, up from 2,885 in the year to March 2015.
“While there are slight differences in how the survey and the police define stalking, which may explain this gap, it is possible that due to the sensitive nature of the crime, victims may not always report it to the police,” the ONS added.
– Stalking victims by gender
Women are more likely to be a victim of stalking than men.
One in five women (20.2%) in England and Wales have experienced stalking at some point since the age of 16, compared with around one in 11 men (8.7%), according to the latest ONS figures.
In the year to March 2024, 4.0% of women aged 16 and over reported experiencing stalking, along with 2.3% of men.
Looking at annual historical data for people aged 16 to 59, the proportion of women in this age group who were a victim of stalking in the year to March was 5.0%, down from 5.7% in the previous 12 months, while for men it was 3.8%, down from 4.3%.
The ONS said these decreases were not statistically significant.
For both women and men, the figures for the year to March were the lowest since 2016/17, though higher than levels a decade ago.
– Victims by age group
Younger people are more likely to be victims of stalking than older age groups.
Some 8.8% of 16-19 year-olds in England and Wales experienced stalking in the past year, according to the ONS survey.
The figure drops with each successive age group, falling to 5.7% for 20-24 year-olds, then 3.9% for 25-34 year-olds, 3.3% for 35-44 year-olds, 2.6% for 45-54 year-olds, 2.5% for 55-59 year-olds, 1.8% for 60-74 year-olds and 0.8% for people aged 75 and over.
More than one in 10 women (10.5%) and around one in 15 men (6.7%) aged 16 to 19 years were a victim of the crime in the year to March.
These are the highest figures among age groups for both females and males.
– Victims by ethnicity
People identifying as black are more likely to experience stalking than other ethnic groups.
Some 4.6% of black people aged 16 and over in England and Wales were a victim of stalking in the year to March 2024, higher than the equivalent figures for white (3.2%), Asian (2.8%) and mixed (2.5%) groups.
The pattern is similar when looking at females, with 6.9% of black women likely to have experienced stalking in the 12 months to March, compared with 4.2% of women of mixed ethnicity, 4.0% of white women and 2.5% of Asian women.
Among men, the figure is highest for Asian males (3.0%), followed by white males (2.3%) and then black males (2.0%), with no data available for males of mixed ethnicity because of the small sample size.
