It's unknown how many children in the UK experience physical abuse.
However, research with 2,275 young people aged 11-17 about their experiences of physical abuse suggests around 1 in 14 children in the UK have been physically abused.1
This briefing collates information from a number of different sources and looks at what data and statistics are available about physical abuse to help you make evidence-based decisions in your role and organisation.
You’ll also find data from services which work with children and research into children's and adults' self-reported experiences, which help build up a picture of the scale of physical abuse.
Statistics can help people and the organisations they work for make evidence-based decisions about how best to meet the needs of children. Our series of briefings looks at what available data can tell us about child abuse and neglect.
References
Find out what data is available and what it can tell us about how many children and young people experience abuse and neglect in the UK.
Explains what physical abuse is, the impact it can have on different age groups, signs and indicators to look out for and what next steps you need to take if you're concerned.
Our factsheet explores issues to consider when looking at service data, self-report data, trends and statistics across different areas in relation to child abuse.
