Child consultation centers across the nation dealt with about a quarter more cases in fiscal 2004 than a year earlier, a preliminary survey by the welfare ministry showed Monday.
More tipoffs on suspected cases came in after the Child Abuse Prevention Law was revised last year.
The centers dealt with 32,979 consultations in the year to March, up by about 6,400 a year earlier, according to the survey by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
The figure has been surging since 1990, when the ministry first began compiling the data. In the initial year the number of reported cases was 1,101.
The sharp rise forced consultation centers to hire 190 more consultants during the year, bringing the total to 2,003 as of May 1.
The revised law, which went into force last Oct. 1, makes it mandatory for people to report children who are found to suffer from bruises, severe weight loss or other signs of abuse.
Before the revision, only witnessed cases of abuse had to be reported.