Off the wire
• Fungus find delays New Zealand kiwifruit exports to China  • Seoul shares end higher  • Vietnam to build bridge linking two southern localities  • Infighting among Taliban factions kills 20 in W. Afghanistan  • 6 kiled, more than 40 injured in bus-truck collision in Thailand  • Ex-Thai premier Yingluck appears in court over rice subsidy scheme  • Stranded whale put down on Aussie beach  • 1st Ld: Gou Hongguo gets suspended sentence for state subversion  • China Hushen 300 index futures close higher Friday  • China treasury bond futures close higher Friday  
You are here: 　 Home

Child abuse in Japan hits worst level on record in 2015

Xinhua, August 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Child abuse in Japan hit worst level on record in 2015, with the number of cases handled by welfare officials surpassing 100,000 for the first time, a government survey said on Thursday.

The survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry showed that around 200 child consultation centers in the country dealt with a total of 103,260 abuse cases during the fiscal year ending on March 31, up 16 percent compared with the year before.

It marks the 25th consecutive annual increase since the government started carrying out the work in 1990.

Psychological abuse, such as acts of violence between parents in front of children, accounted for 47.2 percent of the total with 48,693 cases. Growing income inequality and isolation of families from local communities were expected to raise the risk of spousal abuse.

Meanwhile, physical abuse cases in Japan stood at 27.7 percent, neglect by parents at 23.7 percent and sexual abuse at 1.5 percent, the survey said.

The Japanese authorities took some measures last year such as introducing more specialists to handle abuse cases and creating a three-digit child abuse hotline for more convenience. Endi