Dutch police registered 9,900 sex crimes last year, a rise of 1,100 on 2021 and the highest figure in 10 years, national statistics office CBS said on Thursday.

In 2013, the police registered 8,600 sex crimes, but the total fell to 7,700 in 2015.

The 2022 figures include 2,955 sexual assaults and 2,885 rapes, both up considerably on 2021, and one fifth of the rapes took place in previous years.

Experts suggest that the figure is likely to be the tip of the iceberg and say that reports may have increased because of the increased focus on sex crimes in the wake of several major scandals.

Last year a sexual assault scandal involving key figures on the The Voice of Holland television show prompted a surge in media attention for the problem.

Reporting

The number of reports of indecent behaviour and the sexual abuse of minors remained steady at around 4,000.

The CBS Security Monitor shows that in most cases, the victims of all types of sexual offences do not go to the police to report what has happened to them.

In 2021, 11.5% of sex crimes victims went to the police, compared with 37.5% of the victims of other types of crime.