Over 1.7 million people in the Netherlands aged 16 and over have recently been victims of sexual harassment, often online, a CBS survey into sexual harassment and domestic violence has shown.

Some 12% of the 25,000 respondents had experienced some form of sexual harassment between April 2023 and April 2024. That is less than in 2022 but on a par with the results of 2020. The survey is carried out every two years.

Some 8%, equivalent to 1.2 million people, were victims of offline sexual intimidation, such as hurtful sexually suggestive comments or jokes.

Around 5% of the respondents said they had experienced sexual intimidation online, ranging from having nude photos or sex videos circulated on the internet, to being pushed into sending naked images of themselves.

Actual physical violence was mentioned by 4% of the respondents. That would mean 520,000 people were the victims of unwanted touching, kissing and other sexual acts in the year of the survey. Most of them were women.

In addition, the survey found some 1.3 million people in the Netherlands experience some form of domestic violence. Some 6% of those in the survey faced bullying, intimidation and threats, while 4% had to deal with physical violence.

The survey results were published at the start of the annual Orange the World campaign which kicked off on Monday, the 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

According to UN figures, a woman is murdered every 10 minutes somewhere in the world, in 60% of cases by someone they know.

In the Netherlands, a woman is murdered every eight days. Femicide is currently being studied at the University of Leiden to gain a better insight in the murders of women.

In 2023 Dutch organisations received some 13,000 reports of domestic violence.

“These are the cases where people picked up a phone so the real numbers are likely to be much higher,” said Greet Vink, the director of the Erasmus MC advisory group.

“It is the tip of the iceberg. Many women are stopped from seeing a doctor by the perpetrator and police are not always called,” she told broadcaster NOS.  “The psychological damage is huge.”

Women who report perpetrators to the police are too often dissuaded from filing an official report, investigative journalist Saskia Klaassen told the broadcaster. In addition, she said, reports to organisations such as Veilig Thuis are not processed quickly enough.

Orange the World will be organising events in the next 16 days across the country.