Tokyo, March 5 (IANS): Domestic violence cases in Japan reached a record high in 2019, growing for the 16th consecutive year, police said in a report published on Thursday.

The authorities investigated some 9,161 cases of domestic violence last year, which marked a 73 percent rise compared to the year before, Efe news quoted the report as saying.

Out of the total number of cases investigated, 90 per cent involved assaults of some kind, including three murders and 110 cases of attempted murder.

Around 80 per cent of the domestic violence complaints received by the police were filed by women while the number of male complainants has also tripled compared to 2014 figures.

An official from Japan's National Police Agency told state media that the significant rise in these figures could be attributed to the implementation of stricter laws and growing social awareness over gender-based violence.

The police report also includes cases related to revenge porn, mostly affecting young people, in which the victims are threatened through publication of intimate videos and photographs.

The phenomenon has become increasingly common in the Asian country.

The police received 1,479 complaints about this kind of cases in 2019. The figure was more than the double compared to the year before while the number of police investigations went up to 261.

Most of the victims included women above twenty although around 376 cases involving minors were also recorded.

State media reported that the number of stalking cases under investigation touched 2,355, marking a drop of 109 cases from the figure recorded in 2018.

The number of inquiries registered by the police in cases related to stalking was 20,192, also a drop of 644 cases compared to 2018.