Study reveals worrying lack of awareness about the realities of domestic abuse

A new survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of Refuge shows that most UK adults still believe home is where women feel safest (Picture: Getty)

A woman is safer down a dark alley than she is in her own home.

It is a stark truth, long backed up by facts – but despite one in four women experiencing domestic abuse, new data from Refuge exposes wide gaps in the public’s understanding of this ‘national emergency’.

More than two million women suffered domestic abuse in the year to March 2025.