A new study conducted over eight years by VIVE shows that only 5 percent of domestic violence perpetrated by a partner in Denmark is reported to the police.

Incidents range from one-off and less severe violence to violence that is repeated and more severe in nature.

The VIVE study collected data from 20,000 Danes aged 16-64 in 2012, 2016 and 2020. One of its optimistic findings is that domestic violence would appear to be declining a bit over the years. However, violence in general has seen a bigger decline.

According to the survey, the police end up hearing about 9 percent of all domestic violence incidents: 5 percent from the victims and 4 percent from other sources, such as neighbours etc.

Psychological violence is most prevalent
VIVE asked about four types of partner violence: physical, psychological, sexual, and financial.

The results show that 4.5 percent of women and 2.4 percent of men have experienced at least one of them in the past year.

For both men and women, psychological violence is the most common one, while financial violence is a relatively rare phenomenon.

No matter which kind, women are more likely to experience partner violence than men.

Risk factors
The study also identified risk factors that make a person more likely to be the victim of violence at least once in their life.

If, for example, you have been placed outside your home in childhood, you have a higher risk of being exposed to partner violence.

In the same kind of way, women are more vulnerable, and violence is also more likely to occur in homes with children.