What were the total reported rape cases in the UK for 2020 and 2024?

1. Numbers on the table — what the official figures say

The sources in your search produce two headline reference points: GOV.UK’s victim‑based commentary cites 55,685 recorded rape offences in 2020/21 (presented in that government statistics release) ^[1]. For 2024, the ONS-linked reporting identifies roughly 69,958 rape offences in the year ending September 2024, while other summaries referencing ONS data characterise police‑recorded rapes in 2024 as “more than 71,000” ^{[2] [3]}.

2. Watch the labels — financial years, “year ending” and calendar years

The apparent difference between “2020” and “2024” counts is affected by how the data are sliced. The GOV.UK figure is reported for 2020/21 (a financial/statistical year), the ONS figure is given for the year ending September 2024 and other reporting refers to “2024” more generally; these are not all strict calendar‑year totals, so direct apples‑to‑apples comparison requires matching the same reporting period ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

3. Big rise — interpretation and cautions from statisticians

Multiple official and expert sources warn that police‑recorded increases do not necessarily mean a proportional rise in incidence: improvements in recording by police, changes in victims’ willingness to report, and evolving legal definitions or practice all affect recorded totals (House of Lords summary referencing ONS cautions) ^[4]. The House of Lords Library explicitly cites the ONS view that police recorded sexual offences trends “should be interpreted with caution” because recording and reporting changes contribute to increases ^[4].

4. Why different outlets give slightly different totals

You’ll see small discrepancies across the sources because Statista, GOV.UK, ONS bulletins and news outlets routinely publish different cut‑offs (year ending March, year ending September, financial year 2020/21, or calendar 2024) and may round or summarise: Statista cites a peak of 71,670 for 2024/25 drawing on ONS tables; an ONS year ending September 2024 appendix gives 69,958 as rape offences in that period, while DW and others summarise ONS reporting as “more than 71,000” for 2024 ^{[5] [2] [3]}.

5. What about prosecutions and charges — the wider context

Recorded offences are only one part of the story: prosecution and charge rates have been low relative to recorded volumes. Analyses and media reporting highlight that a small percentage of recorded rapes led to charge or summons historically (for example, charge/summons proportions cited around 3.2–3.5% in years ending March 2020–2021 and very low charge rates reported for 2020), which is important when readers weigh recorded volumes against criminal justice outcomes ^{[4] [6] [7]}.

6. Regional and system differences — Scotland and London examples

Separate jurisdictions or police forces report their own trends: Scotland’s reported rape and attempted rape figures are smaller in absolute terms but rose in 2024‑25 (2,897 reported), and London has had thousands of reports in single years (e.g., roughly 10,991 reports in 2023 in one BBC analysis), underscoring that national totals mask local variation and different recording practices ^{[8] [9]}.

7. What’s missing or uncertain in current reporting

Available sources do not mention a single, definitive “UK total” for calendar years 2020 and 2024 that exactly matches across all publications; the ONS and related government releases focus mainly on England and Wales and use varying reporting periods ^{[10] [1]}. The figures above therefore reflect England and Wales police‑recorded rape counts as presented in the provided sources ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

Conclusion — short read: for the reporting periods used by the cited sources, recorded rape offences rose from roughly 55,685 in the 2020/21 period to roughly 70,000+ by 2024 (YE Sep 2024 ≈ 69,958; other summaries put 2024 above 71,000), but interpreting that rise requires care because of changes in reporting, recording and jurisdictional definitions cited by the ONS and parliamentary analysts ^{[1] [2] [4]}.