Istat: “1.7 million women experienced sexual violence before the age of 16”

In 2025, 7.8 per cent of women in Italia reported having experienced sexual violence before the age of 16. Sexual abuse affected just under 1.65 million Italian women (8.2 per cent) and nearly 73,000 foreign women (3.4 per cent). This figure has fallen compared with 2014, when the percentage stood at 10.6 per cent.

Most sexual violence occurs between the ages of 11 and 16, but 8.2 per cent of Italian victims recall that the first incident took place before the age of 6. The proportion of women rises to as high as 14.9 per cent if physical abuse is included alongside sexual violence. Thus, three million Italian girls (15.3 per cent) and over 244,000 foreign girls (11.4 per cent) have, at least once, suffered some form of violence – including both physical and sexual abuse – before the age of 16. This is the picture painted by the Istat report ‘Violence against women from childhood to adulthood – Year 2025’.

Relatives, friends and family friends account for the majority of perpetrators of violence, almost all of whom are male. Sexual violence perpetrated by family members is less common, but when it does occur, it tends to be repeated more frequently. More than 58 per cent of victims did not tell anyone about the abuse they suffered when they were young. Around 9 per cent of women have experienced physical violence before the age of 16: this ranges from being pushed, shoved and slapped, to being kicked, beaten with objects, burned or injured with a weapon.

According to Istat, the most serious violence is primarily perpetrated by parents. Looking at the most serious forms of violence, 47.5 per cent of foreign victims were struck, beaten or injured by their father and 43.5 per cent by their mother; amongst Italian victims, the father was the perpetrator in around 40 per cent of cases and the mother in 28 per cent. The proportion of women who have suffered physical or sexual violence as adults – 31.9 per cent for Italian women and 27.4 per cent for foreign women – almost doubles if they also experienced physical or sexual violence as children (57.2 per cent for Italian women and 56.8 per cent for foreign women). This figure is very similar to that recorded in the rest of Europe.

The figures released by Istat were described as “staggering” by M5S MPs Stefania Ascari, Anna Bilotti, Alessandra Maiorino and Daniela Morfino, who added that they reveal a reality that “all too often begins within the four walls of the home” and, for this reason too, are calling for sex and relationship education in schools. Senator Michela Biancofiore, chair of the Civici d’Italia–UDC–Noi Moderati–MAIE–Centro Popolare group in the Senate, also branded the Istat figures as “alarming” because “behind these figures lie traumatised children and a responsibility that no institution can shirk”. For PD Senator Valeria Valente, “forget about unknown rapists, perhaps non-EU nationals, as some political forces would have us believe: the monster is in the home”. “The figure is down compared with 2014, but it certainly cannot allow us to rest easy,” reflects Cristina Almici, MP for Fratelli d’Italia.