Findings from the 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians' Safety (Victimization) show that there were approximately 432,000 women and 279,000 men in Canada who experienced spousal violence in the five years preceding the survey.
There are two primary methods of measuring spousal violence in Canada: administrative data collected from the police and survey data collected directly from Canadians. Due to the complexities of intimate relationships, spousal violence is particularly susceptible to underreporting to police. As a result, self-reported experiences of violence are an important complement to police-reported data.