From Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2024-25 published today:

The police recorded 64,967 incidents of domestic abuse in 2024-25, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. Despite increasing over the latest two years, this figure remains below the peak in 2020-21. https://www.gov.scot/news/domestic-abuse-recorded-by-the-police-in-scotland-2024-25/

The introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and greater recognition of coercive and controlling behaviour have likely improved identification and recording of some forms of abuse that previously might not have been recorded as such. The statistics show offences under that Act now make up a measurable share of recorded domestic-abuse-related offending. https://www.gov.scot/news/domestic-abuse-recorded-by-the-police-in-scotland-2023-24/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

With 11 times the population, you might expect the figure in England & Wales to have been around 650 000.

The official figure in England & Wales – 1 350 460, twice as high: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseprevalenceandtrendsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025

Readers should be careful not to link higher levels to particular religions. Communities, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and others, that historically developed in poor, isolated, upland, subsistence-agriculture environments sometimes evolved stronger patriarchal norms and more rigid gender roles. Some researchers have linked these norms to elevated risks of intimate partner violence.

For more on this, see:

There is a substantial academic literature linking certain historical economic and social structures—especially subsistence agriculture, pastoralism, low female economic autonomy, and patriarchal kinship systems—to more traditional gender norms, and in turn to higher acceptance or risk of intimate partner violence. The evidence is nuanced, but here are some influential sources.

Historical agriculture and gender norms

One of the most cited papers is:

• Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, and Nathan Nunn, On the Origins of Gender Roles (2013).

Their argument is that societies whose traditional agriculture relied heavily on the plough tended to develop a stronger division between male and female labor because plough agriculture favored upper-body strength and work outside the home. These historical patterns are associated with more traditional attitudes toward women’s roles even today.

The paper does not directly prove higher domestic violence, but it is frequently cited as evidence that historical economic systems can have long-lasting effects on gender norms.

Patriarchy and intimate partner violence

The public health literature has repeatedly found that:

• Male dominance in households.
• Acceptance of wife-beating.
• Restrictive gender norms.
• Women’s lower economic and social status.

are associated with elevated risks of intimate partner violence.

A landmark review is:

• Lori Heise, Violence Against Women: An Integrated, Ecological Framework (1998).

Heise’s ecological model examines how individual, relationship, community, and societal factors interact, including patriarchal social structures and gender inequality.

World Health Organization findings

The World Health Organization has repeatedly identified:

• Gender inequality.
• Norms supporting male authority over women.
• Social acceptance of violence.

as major risk factors for intimate partner violence.

For example, WHO’s multi-country studies found substantial variation across societies and linked higher prevalence to environments where male control and unequal gender norms were more strongly accepted.

Rural, traditional, and clan-based societies

Anthropologists and sociologists have long noted that some historically isolated agrarian or pastoral societies developed:

• Stronger kinship control over marriage.
• Greater emphasis on family honor.
• More rigid gender divisions.
• Lower female autonomy.

These features are often discussed as risk factors for violence against women.

A major cross-cultural source is:

• Peggy Reeves Sanday, Female Power and Male Dominance (1981).

Sanday examined cross-cultural variation and argued that social and economic organization influences gender relations and the prevalence of violence against women.

What the evidence does not show

Researchers are generally careful not to say:

“People from rural, poor, mountain, or traditional backgrounds are inherently more violent.”

Instead, the argument is that certain social conditions—economic dependence, patriarchal authority structures, weak institutional oversight, limited educational opportunities, and norms accepting male dominance—can increase risk.

There are affluent societies with high domestic violence rates and traditional rural communities with relatively low rates. The relationships are statistical tendencies, not deterministic rules.

If you’re interested in the strongest empirical literature

The three sources most commonly cited in modern academic discussions are:

1. Alberto Alesina et al. (2013), On the Origins of Gender Roles.
2. Lori Heise (1998), An Integrated Ecological Framework.
3. World Health Organization reports on intimate partner violence and violence against women.

Together they provide a reasonably strong evidence base for the proposition that historical economic structures and gender norms can influence the risk of intimate partner violence, although they do not support simplistic conclusions about any particular ethnicity, religion, or geographic population.