Domestic Violence Cases Remain Elevated in 2025 – Stronger Vigilance and Earlier Support

1. The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) has released the Domestic Violence Trends Report (DVTR) 2026, which reports the number of Tier 1 and 2 domestic violence cases in 2025*. It also provides insights into how Singapore’s domestic violence response system supports the detecting, reporting and protecting of individuals experiencing abuse. 

2. The number of domestic violence cases remained elevated in 2025. Reports to the National Anti-Violence & Sexual Harassment Helpline (NAVH) and ground responses by the Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT) also increased. Taken together, these trends reflect stronger reporting and detection of abuse, alongside DVERT’s expanded capacity to respond to high-risk incidents. Our focus is therefore both preventive and responsive: to strengthen families and address stresses upstream, and where there are concerns, to identify concerns early, protect those at risk, support affected families, and work with persons causing harm to reduce the risk of recurrence.    

Refined methodology improves accuracy and consistency of reporting 

3. MSF has refined its reporting methodology to improve the accuracy and consistency of reporting. These reporting refinements do not affect how cases are assessed, managed or supported. All individuals from households with identified domestic violence concerns continue to receive the appropriate level of support and interventions that are tailored to their needs, circumstances and level of risk.  

4. The methodological refinements are in three key areas: (a) Tier 1 cases handled by Family Service Centres (FSCs) are now identified using a structured assessment framework that more precisely identifies individual victim-survivors, rather than relying on household-level classifications; (b) Tier 2 child abuse cases now only count children who were directly abused or neglected, or specifically exposed to abuse within the household, rather than all children in the household; (c) duplicate counts have been removed where the same case moved between community agencies or across Tier 1 and Tier 2 due to step-down or step-up interventions within the same year. These refinements generally result in lower reported figures by more precisely identifying individuals affected and removing duplicate counts. Where feasible, the revised methodology has been retrospectively applied to data from 2023 onwards to support like-for-like comparisons. Full details of the methodological refinements are set out in the Report’s Technical Note. 

Increase in domestic violence reports and responses reflects greater vigilance 

5. This year’s Report includes a new section on Singapore’s domestic violence response system which covers NAVH and DVERT. 

6. National Anti-Violence & Sexual Harassment Helpline (NAVH). Reports to NAVH increased from 11,068 in 2024 to 16,525 in 2025. While members of the public remained the largest source of reports, the increase was driven largely by reports from the law enforcement agencies, social service agencies and the education sector. From September 2024, police officers responding to domestic violence incidents involving a child or Vulnerable Adult are now required to notify NAVH, so that safety concerns can be assessed and appropriate referrals made where necessary. Not every report to NAVH leads to a new Tier 1 or Tier 2 case. Of the 16,525 reports received in 2025, 82% required follow-up, including further assessment, investigation, safety planning, or referrals to MSF’s Protective Service and community agencies. However, some reports were related to existing cases, while others were assessed not to require statutory or community-based intervention. Accordingly, the increase in NAVH reports was not accompanied by a corresponding increase in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cases. The increase in NAVH reports likely reflects the increased vigilance amongst community partners in surfacing any potential concerns to the authorities. 

7. Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT). Following DVERT’s expansion to all seven Police Divisions islandwide in September 2024, the number of incidents responded to more than doubled from 675 in 2024 to 1,439 in 2025. The expansion has enabled more high-risk domestic incidents to receive an immediate joint response from the Police and social service professionals, strengthening crisis intervention and support for affected families. In January 2025, Emergency Orders were operationalised as part of the family violence amendments to the Women’s Charter. These orders can be issued by DVERT officers in high-risk situations to provide immediate protection and reduce the risk of further violence while longer-term safety measures are put in place. A total of 1,151 Emergency Orders were issued last year. Together, these enhancements have strengthened Singapore’s domestic violence response system by enabling earlier intervention, improving immediate protection for victim-survivors, and facilitating timely access to support services.

Tier 1 cases remained stable but elevated; New baseline of Tier 2 cases in 2025 

8. The number of new Tier 1 abuse cases remained stable, increasing from 4,527 in 2024 to 4,686 in 2025, but elevated compared with the 2023 baseline of 3,918. There were 2,021 new Tier 2 abuse cases in 2025. This forms a new baseline and is not directly comparable with previous years because of the methodological refinements. The key trends are as follows:

a. Child Abuse. New Tier 1 child abuse figures remained broadly stable at 2,476 in 2025, compared to 2,373 in 2024. However, numbers remain elevated compared to the 2023 baseline of 2,128 cases. There were 1,917 new Tier 2 child abuse cases in 2025, or an incidence rate of 2.3 cases per 1,000 children. Across both tiers, children aged seven to 12 years old formed the largest group of child abuse cases, while physical abuse was the most common type of abuse experienced. A significant proportion of cases involved the excessive use of physical force for the purpose of discipline. While parents may adopt different approaches to discipline, MSF encourages parents to use non-physical means of discipline and build positive parent-child relationships. 

b. Spousal Abuse. There were 1,920 new Tier 1 spousal abuse cases in 2025, comparable to 1,871 cases in 2024, but numbers remained elevated compared to the 2023 baseline. This upward trend was driven by cases managed by FSCs, suggesting that more victim-survivors are coming forward to seek support via FSCs. This provides opportunities for social service professionals to work with families earlier, where appropriate and safe to do so, before concerns escalate.  

c. Elder Abuse. Tier 1 elder abuse cases remained broadly stable at 290 cases in 2025, compared with 283 in 2024, but increased from the 2023 baseline of 230 cases. In view of Singapore’s aging population, MSF will continue to monitor elder abuse trends work closely with the community to raise awareness and encourage early reporting and intervention.  

d. Vulnerable Adult Abuse and Self-Neglect. Tier 2 Vulnerable Adult abuse cases increased from 70 cases in 2024 to 104 cases in 2025, while self-neglect cases increased from 14 to 37. Although overall numbers remained relatively low, the increase may partly reflect improved detection by healthcare and community partners, supported by the introduction of the Vulnerable Adult Structured Decision-Making Tools in 2024 to strengthen the identification and assessment of abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.  

9. The full report can be found at: https://go.gov.sg/msfdvreport2026.

Preliminary indication of domestic violence cases in 2026 

10. Preliminary data for the first half of 2026 suggest a continued increase in new cases across most abuse categories compared to the same period in 2025. While Tier 1 child abuse cases declined slightly, Tier 2 child abuse cases saw a slight increase. New spousal abuse, Vulnerable Adult abuse and Vulnerable Adult self-neglect cases also increased compared to the corresponding period in 2025.  

11. MSF and our partners remain committed to preventing abuse, protecting victim-survivors, supporting affected families and facilitating the rehabilitation of persons causing harm. Our approach recognises that families may face complex circumstances and that timely, coordinated support can help them build safety, stability and resilience. 

12. MSF will continue to work closely with families, law enforcement agencies, the education sector, healthcare institutions, social service agencies and other community partners to strengthen public awareness and legal protections, provide upstream and timely support, and intervene decisively where safety is a risk. Through this whole-of-community effort, we aim to identify concerns early, provide appropriate support and build safer environments for individuals and families.

[*Tier 1: cases with low to moderate safety and risk concerns, overseen by community agencies; Tier 2: cases with high safety and risk concerns requiring statutory intervention overseen by MSF’s Protective Service (PSV).]