Statistics Lithuania initiates statistical survey aiming to clarify the prevalence of violence in our society. We are planning to collect information on the breaches of personal safety at work, extent and nature of violence within and outside the domestic environment, providing assistance to violence victims. The present survey is unique as it is aiming to clarify more facts than are fixed in the police records.

Violence has become a particularly topical issue now, particularly in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, when in the vast majority of countries, including Lithuania, the quarantine or restrictions on different activities have been imposed. Limitations related to one-household communication, self-isolation, free movement among municipalities appear to be a much bigger challenge.

”Only the most serious cases fall into the public domain and  are officially recorded, unfortunately, other crimes of violence are not recorded. Some are ashamed, others are afraid of the possible lack of understanding and opposition encountered.  In other words, frequent cases of hidden violence are obvious, and it would be impossible to measure true extent without questioning”, says Sigita Mačiuikienė, Adviser, Social Protection, Health, Education and Culture Statistics Division Statistics Lithuania.

Many countries in the European Union will conduct analogous surveys, comparable statistics will be available.

The aforementioned survey is performed during April and May 2021. Data will be collected by interviewing about 10 thousand individuals aged 18–74, randomly sampled from the Population Register of the Republic of Lithuania, receiving an official letter inviting to take part in the survey.

If you have received an invitation to participate in the statistical survey, you may fill in a questionnaire that is available on the website during the entire survey period: https://apklausos.stat.gov.lt/. Our interviewers will call those who have not filled in a questionnaire online and agree on the possibility to answer the questions directly (if the quarantine is revoked) or will encourage the population to fill in a questionnaire online by themselves.

Emphasis will be placed on data confidentiality. The survey data collection will not contain the respondents’ names, surnames or addresses, except the municipality, sex and age. Only aggregated data will be used for final statistical information. Survey results will be published in 2022, on the Official Statistics Portal.

Statistics Lithuania invites those who have received the letters take an active part and in good faith participate in this survey – information provided by everyone is essential.