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Though about 1.2 million Canadians have recently been victims of physical or sexual abuse by their spouse or partner, police are hearing about it less and less, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.
Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile looked at the 19 million Canadians who had a current or former spouse in 2009 across the 10 provinces. It found about 6.2% had been a victim of spousal violence within the five years prior to the survey.
But despite the number of people who are victims of abuse, fewer reported the violence to police than have in previous years, StatsCan said.
In 2009, 22% of spousal abuse victims said the violence had been reported to police - down from 28% in 2004. About two-thirds of the victims said a violent act had occurred multiple times before they contacted the authorities.
Women were far more likely to report spousal violence than men, at 23%, compared to only 7% of male victims.
About 82% of those who choose not to report violence to police, said they believed the issue was a personal matter. Only 6 in 10 people reported being satisfied with the police response.
The proportion of men and women reporting that they had been victims of spousal violence was similar, though. About 6% of men and 6.4% of women said they'd encountered violence within the five previous years.
But women were more likely to report having been victims of violent attacks, with 35% saying they'd been sexually assaulted, beaten, choked or threatened with a knife. Only 10% of men reported that level of violence.
About 57% of the female victims also said the violence had occurred more than once, compared to 40% of men.
The rate of violence was highest among young adults, aged 25 to 34. Spousal violence was also more likely to occur in common-law relationships and blended families, the study found.
Homosexuals were more than twice as likely to report having experienced spousal violence, while bisexuals were four times as likely.
Aboriginal people were also about twice as likely to report being a victim to violence at the hands of a spouse or partner.
But other socio-demographic factors, such as household income and education levels were found to have little impact on the level of spousal violence among Canadian couples.