New figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales indicate that one in five women have experienced sexual assault since the age of 16.

In the year up to March 2017, more than 510,000 women experienced assault of some kind – a figure that amounts to 3.1% of all women aged 16 to 59. 443,000 of these women experienced at least one assault involving “indecent exposure or unwanted touching”; a further 144,000 experienced “rape, attempted rape or assault by penetration”.

Women are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual violence: five times more likely to experience assault than men. Less than 4% of men have experienced assault – around 138,000 in the last year and 646,000 since they were 16 – and those incidents generally involved unwanted touching or indecent exposure, rather than rape.

121,187 offences were reported last year – a 14% increase. But perhaps more shockingly, 80% of victims didn’t report their experiences to police or authorities.

The ONS points out that figures have stayed fairly stable since 2005 – indicating that the problem of violence against women is not improving.

One in five women has been sexually assaulted, new figures show