About 1 in 5 people have experienced physical abuse from their partners while dating, the highest proportion ever, while 1 in 4 spouses said the same, according to a government survey published Tuesday.

In a Cabinet Office survey conducted late last year of 2,950 people, 18% of the respondents said they had been subject to physical abuse by the people they were going out with, rising from 12.6% in the previous survey in 2020.

Breaking this down according to gender, 22.7% of female respondents said they had been physically abused by their partner while 12% of male respondents said the same.