The number of victims identified in domestic and family violence cases in Finland rose to its highest level on record in 2025, according to new figures from Statistics Finland.

Authorities recorded 15,500 victims in intimate partner and family violence offences during the year, an increase of 20 per cent compared with 2024. The total was the highest since comparable records began in 2009.

The increase affected both adults and children.

Statistics Finland said the number of adult victims rose by 25 per cent from the previous year, while the number of underage victims increased by more than seven per cent.

Among adult victims, women accounted for the majority of cases. Among minors, boys slightly outnumbered girls.

The number of girl victims increased by 1.3 per cent compared with 2024, while the number of boy victims rose by 13.8 per cent.

According to senior statistician Kimmo Haapakangas, boys are most often represented among the youngest victims, while the proportion of girls increases as children approach adulthood.

Parents were identified as the suspected offender in the vast majority of cases involving children. In incidents involving boys, a parent was the suspected perpetrator in nearly 90 per cent of cases. For girls, the figure was about 80 per cent.

The report found that men continued to account for most suspects in domestic and family violence offences.

Men represented 75 per cent of all suspects in 2025. In offences directed at adults, the share of male suspects was even higher.

Cases involving female suspects were more likely to involve younger victims. Women accounted for 36 per cent of suspects in domestic violence offences involving children under the age of 13.

Even in that category, male suspects remained the majority.

In offences involving adult victims, the most common suspect was a current spouse or partner. Current partners accounted for 47 per cent of suspects last year, while former partners represented about one quarter of cases. Cases involving children accused of violence against a parent have also become more common.

Assault offences made up the overwhelming majority of domestic and family violence crimes.

Three quarters of all recorded offences fell into that category in 2025. More than half of all cases involved standard assault offences, while aggravated assaults represented 2.5 per cent of assault cases and minor assaults accounted for about one quarter.

The report also showed a continued increase in the number of victims with foreign backgrounds.

Around one in five victims of domestic and family violence recorded in 2025 came from a foreign background. The number of victims in that group increased by 26.7 per cent compared with the previous year.

Statistics Finland said the share of foreign-background victims was higher than their share of the overall population. The difference was particularly visible among children.

Among underage victims, 26 per cent had a foreign background. That figure was more than ten percentage points higher than the share of foreign-background children in Finland’s population.

When assault offences against minors were adjusted for population size, the data showed that children with foreign backgrounds experienced more than twice as many domestic and family violence assaults as children with Finnish backgrounds.

HT