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Statistics Canada says about 99,000 Canadians were victims of family violence in 2010, with spouses accounting for almost half the abuse.

The agency quotes police-reported data to show that about 50 per cent of such violence was committed by a spouse, with 17 per cent blamed on a parent, 14 per cent on an extended family member, 11 per cent on a sibling and nine per cent on a child, usually a grown child.

The report says the risk of being a victim of family violence was twice as high for women, mainly because of spousal abuse.

In 2010, police reported approximately 48,700 victims of spousal violence, with more than 80 per cent of victims being women age 15 or older.

The report says rates of family violence in the provinces and territories follows the same pattern of overall crime, with Ontario and Prince Edward Island having the lowest rates of police-reported violence.

The territories, Saskatchewan and Manitoba had the highest rates.

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