Survey on Safety and Well-Being 2022
Date Published: 14th March 2024
Summary:
The National Statistics Office (NSO) conducted the Survey on Safety and Well-being (SSW), to measure the prevalence of gender-based violence in Malta. This project was partly funded by the European Union and conducted in collaboration with Eurostat and other partners in the European Statistical System.
This survey covered all residents living in households aged between 18 and 74 years and collected information from respondents on their experience of sexual harassment at work, intimate partner violence, non-partner violence, stalking, general victimisation, and violence experienced during their childhood years. Moreover, the survey collected information on the respondents’ perception of gender-based violence and their knowledge of local services in this area. This publication, the first of its kind in Malta, presents the results of this survey. These provide national prevalence figures on the various topics mentioned previously, shedding light on disparities between different population groups.
Salient Points of Publication:
General overview
- 22.9 per cent of persons aged 18 to 74 experienced at least one episode of physical or sexual violence during their lifetime – 21.6 per cent of males and 24.4 per cent of females.
- One in every five persons aged 18 to 74 (20.7 per cent) experienced at least one episode of physical violence – with an equal percentage of males and females (20.7 per cent) indicating such experiences.
- Just over one in every ten females (11.1 per cent) aged 18 to 74 experienced at least one episode of sexual violence, compared to 2.5 per cent of males.
Sexual harassment at work
- From those who ever worked, 27.1 per cent of females and 11.0 per cent of males experienced sexual harassment at work.
- Amidst different forms of sexual harassment at work, 12.2 per cent of persons who ever worked experienced staring or leering, while 10.2 per cent experienced indecent sexual jokes or remarks.
Intimate partner violence
- Of those who ever had an intimate partner relationship, 22.5 per cent experienced violence by at least one intimate partner.
- Over a quarter of females (26.0 per cent) who ever had an intimate partner experienced intimate partner violence, compared with just under one in every five males (19.1 per cent).
- Among those who ever had an intimate partner, 10.4 per cent experienced at least one episode of physical or sexual violence, while 21.3 per cent experienced at least one episode of psychological violence.
Non-partner violence
- Since the age of 15, 17.0 per cent of persons experienced at least one episode of physical or sexual violence by a non-partner.
- 6 per cent of all males experienced at least one episode of non-partner violence compared with 15.1 per cent of all females.
- For physical violence by a non-partner, this was experienced mainly by males (17.8 per cent), whereas it was females who mainly experienced sexual violence by a non-partner (7.3 per cent).
- When looking at perpetrators of non-partner violence, 15.2 per cent of all persons reported at least one episode involving a male perpetrator, while 3.1 per cent of all persons experienced at least one episode involving a female perpetrator.
