THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
September 9, 2022 at 17:40 JST
The health ministry office in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Child consultation centers across Japan handled 207,659 child abuse cases in fiscal 2021, breaking the previous high for the 31st consecutive year, according to the welfare ministry.
Preliminary figures released by the ministry on Sept. 9 show the number of cases involving abuse against children under 18 was up 2,615, or 1.3 percent, from the previous fiscal year, which ended in March 2021.
The increase was much smaller this time, though. Fiscal 2019 recorded an increase of 21.2 percent, while it was 5.8 percent in fiscal 2020.
Psychological abuse topped the latest list with 124,722 cases, or 60.1 percent of the total, a trend that has continued throughout recent years.
This was followed by physical abuse with 49,238 cases, or 23.7 percent, and neglect with 31,452 cases, or 15.1 percent.
Child consultation centers learned of 49.7 percent of the 207,659 cases from police officers. That was followed by 13.5 percent of cases reported by neighbors or acquaintances and 8.4 percent by family members or relatives.
Abused children themselves only reported 1.2 percent of the cases.
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