Women are more likely to be assaulted by their partner at home while men experience physical violence from strangers in public, latest data shows.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics found one third of Australian adults have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
Most men reported being physically assaulted by a male who was a stranger (57 per cent), while three in four assaults happened outside of home such as at a pub or in the street.
For women, 63 per cent reported their perpetrator being a male intimate partner and 70 per cent said the assault happened inside a home.
The statistics were similar for women experiencing sexual violence, with male intimate partners the most common perpetrator (53 per cent).
Women were also three times more likely to have been assaulted by a man they knew rather than by a stranger, the data shows.
"In the 12 months after the assault, two-thirds of women experienced anxiety or fear for their personal safety and one in nine had to take time off work," the bureau's Will Milne said.
An estimated 1.7 million Australians also experienced sexual harassment in the past financial year.
Nearly half of harassed women experienced multiple instances of unwanted sexual behaviour.
"Receiving inappropriate comments about their body or sex life was the most widely reported behaviour, experienced by 800,000 women," Mr Milne said.
"Half a million women received an indecent text, email, or post, while 400,000 were subjected to unwanted touching or grabbing."
About 426,800 men reported being sexually harassed in the past year, with other men just as likely to be their perpetrator as women.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Lifeline 13 11 14
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
