France is facing a mounting crisis of sexual violence, with the latest statistics revealing a sharp and persistent increase in reported rapes and assaults, particularly against women and minors. Despite growing public awareness and legislative efforts, experts warn that the true scale of the crisis remains vastly underestimated due to chronic underreporting and delays in filing complaints.
According to the most recent ‘Personal Experiences and the Aftermath Regarding Security’ survey, published at the end of 2023, an estimated 270,000 women in France reported being victims of physical sexual violence—including rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault—in 2022.
An additional 1.14 million women said they were subjected to non-physical sexual violence, such as harassment and indecent exposure. Yet, only a fraction of these victims—six per cent for physical and two per cent for non-physical sexual violence—filed formal complaints with law enforcement.
The reluctance to report is rooted in a sense of futility and fear of not being taken seriously. Among those who did not report, 23 per cent believed it would be useless, another 23 per cent felt the incident was not serious enough, and 15 per cent doubted their testimony would be believed.
This chronic underreporting means official police data, while alarming, likely captures only a portion of the reality.
Official figures show a steady increase in sexual violence cases. In 2023, police and gendarmerie recorded 114,100 formal complaints of sexual violence, 85 per cent of which were filed by women—a seven per cent rise from the previous year.
The surge in complaints has been partly attributed to the #MeToo movement, which has emboldened more victims to come forward, sometimes years after the incident.
In fact, half of all victims who filed complaints in 2023 did so more than six months after the event, and 17 per cent waited over five years.
Of the 114,100 victims of sexual violence recorded in 2023, 65,300 were minors, with young women making up the majority. Boys aged nine to 19 are also at significant risk, but women are overwhelmingly the primary victims.
In 2021, women represented 93 per cent of all rape victims and 98 per cent of victims of intimate partner rape.
Perpetrators are almost exclusively male—96 per cent of those incriminated in 2023 were men, with 27 per cent aged between 30 and 44. In over half of rape, attempted rape, or assault cases, the victim knew the perpetrator: 13 per cent were partners, 15 per cent ex-partners, and 11 per cent friends.
The crisis extends beyond sexual assault to lethal violence.
On average, a woman is killed every three days by her partner or ex-partner in France. In 2022, police recorded 118 women victims of intimate partner homicide, representing 81 per cent of such cases.
Domestic violence is also on the rise, with a 15 per cent increase in recorded victims between 2021 and 2022.
Between 2012 and 2021, French prosecutors handled nearly 385,000 cases of sexual violence, including 132,251 rapes, with about 46 per cent of rape cases involving minors. Despite increased reporting, the number of convictions remains low, highlighting ongoing challenges in supporting victims and prosecuting offenders.
