WASHINGTON (AP) — More U.S. troops are reporting unwanted sexual contact to authorities, according to a Pentagon report released Friday, but even as more service members are willing to come forward, the prevalence of such incidents still went down overall last year.
An estimated 33% of active duty personnel who said they experienced unwanted sexual contact in fiscal year 2025 reported it, compared with 25% in fiscal year 2023, the report said. The findings are based on confidential surveys taken every two years as well as sexual assault reports made to authorities.
“In other words, about 1 in 3 Service members reported experiencing their sexual assault to a Department authority,” the report said. “This estimate is up from the 1 in 4 Service members estimated to have reported experiencing sexual assault in FY 2023.”
The Pentagon says it estimates about 20,492 service members — 9,860 active duty women and 10,632 active duty men — said in the survey that they experienced unwanted sexual contact.
The report marks another year of improving trends in the effort to tackle sexual assault in the military. The Pentagon reports from the previous two years show drops in sexual assault reports as well as the number of service members who said they had experienced unwanted sexual contact. That followed almost a decade of rising numbers of reported assaults, though many say the numbers still are too high.
The Pentagon has faced persistent criticism and pressure from both Congress and outside advocacy groups to reduce sexual assaults and harassment in the military, which also can affect recruiting and retaining troops.
The Pentagon releases this report every year on the number of sexual assaults reported by or about troops. Because sexual assault is a highly underreported crime, the department does a confidential online survey every two years to get a clearer picture of the problem.
Defense officials have long argued that an increase in reported assaults is a positive trend because so many people are reluctant to report them, both in the military and in society as a whole. Greater reporting, they say, shows there is more confidence in the reporting system and greater comfort with the support for victims.
The number of reported sexual assaults dipped last year from the previous year. The Defense Department said it received a total of 7,998 reports of sexual assault in 2025, a decrease of 197 from 8,195 reports received in 2024.
The latest confidential survey found that unwanted sexual contact among active duty women decreased from an estimated 6.8% in 2023 to 4.3% last year. For men, the prevalence fell from an estimated 1.3% to 1%.
Sexual harassment of active duty women fell from an estimated 24.7% to 17.5% during that time, while it dropped from 5.8% to 4.4% for men, according to the survey.
However, the report noted that junior enlisted men and women and those younger than 24 “remained at greater risk of unwanted sexual contact compared to men and women of higher ranks and those over the age of 25.”
It says “preventing and responding to sexual assault is … a readiness imperative” and that the Pentagon will “continue to strengthen efforts to deter and diminish harmful behaviors, provide timely and victim-centered care, and hold substantiated offenders appropriately accountable.”
While the latest Pentagon report suggests the military is making progress on changing the culture of sexual assault and its underreporting in the military, the new figures cover only the first several months of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s time leading the Pentagon.
Since his arrival, Hegseth has not shied away from firing top female leaders and instituting policies and reviews that suggest he may be looking to diminish the role that women can play in the military.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
