Around 6,700 new child abuse cases in S'pore in 2025, number remains 'elevated': MSF

Domestic violence cases in Singapore — including cases of child abuse and spousal abuse — remained at an elevated level in 2025, said the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

All four categories of domestic violence also saw slight increases in the number of cases.

The statistics were revealed in MSF's latest Domestic Violence Trends Report (DVTR), published on Oct. 29.

The data reflects stronger reporting and detection of abuse, MSF said.

Child abuse

In 2025, there were 4,686 new cases of Tier 1 child abuse and 2,021 new cases of Tier 2 child abuse.

This translates to 6,707 new child abuse cases in total, with children aged seven to 12 years old making up the largest group of victims.

Tier 1 cases are those with low to moderate safety and risk concerns, overseen by community-based agencies.

Tier 2 cases, meanwhile, involve high safety and risk concerns and may warrant intrusive statutory intervention to keep the vulnerable person safe.

These cases are overseen by MSF's Protective Service (PSV).

Physical abuse most common

Among child abuse cases, physical abuse was the most common type of abuse inflicted, said MSF.

This was significantly related to the excessive use of physical force in disciplining children.

Other forms of child abuse recorded include emotional and psychological abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse.

The ministry said it encourages parents to employ non-physical means of discipline instead to build positive parent-child relationships.

Spousal abuse

There were 1,920 new cases of Tier 1 spousal abuse in 2025, seeing a slight increase from 1,871 in 2024.

Numbers remained elevated compared to the 2023 baseline of 1,560.

MSF said this suggests that more victim-survivors sought support through Family Service Centres (FSCs) before having their safety concerns escalated.

Victim-survivors of spousal abuse were overwhelmingly female, with those aged 30 to 49 years making up the largest group.

Physical abuse was the most common type of abuse, followed by emotional abuse and sexual abuse.

Elder abuse, vulnerable adult abuse

Cases of elder abuse, vulnerable adult abuse, and self-neglect all saw increases.

An elderly person in the report refers to a person aged 65 years and above, while vulnerable adults are defined as those who, by reason of mental or physical disability or incapacity, are incapable of protecting themselves from abuse, neglect, or self-neglect.

With elder abuse, women made up the larger group of victims among Tier 1 abuse cases in 2025, with physical abuse forming the most common type of elder abuse.

Often, the elderly victim is abused by a family member or caregiver that the victim-survivor trusts, the report said.

Meanwhile, with cases of self-neglect and vulnerable adult abuse, the increases were sharper although overall numbers remained low.

The increase may partly reflect improved detection by healthcare and community partners, according to MSF.

The agency also noted that most new cases of self-neglect involved the elderly.

More reports made

In 2025, the number of reports made to the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment Helpline (NAVH) increased sharply, MSF said.

NAVH reports rose by nearly 50 per cent, with members of the public making up the largest source of reports.

But the increase was mostly driven by reports from law enforcement agencies, social service agencies and the education sector.

Since September 2024, police officers have been required to notify NAVH when they respond to domestic violence cases involving children or vulnerable adults.

Meanwhile, the Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team (DVERT) — which responds to high-risk domestic violence cases — responded to 1,439 cases in 2025.

This was more than double the 675 cases in 2024.

This increase occurred after the response team was expanded to all seven police divisions islandwide in September 2024, allowing more high-risk domestic incidents to receive immediate action, MSF noted.