A record 11,631 cases of child abuse were reported in fiscal 1999, an increase of 70 percent from the previous year, according to a Health and Welfare Ministry report released Wednesday.

Ministry officials attributed part of this increase to rising public awareness of the problem, which prompted more people to inform child counseling centers of previously unreported child abuse cases.

"But it is also undeniable that the sheer number of child abuse cases in Japan is increasing," one official said.