At least 40 domestic violence cases were reported to Swiss police in a day, the Federal Office of Gender Equality (EBG) has said, and annual calls were some 14,000 last year.

The Swiss authority's report on domestic violence was revealed Tuesday as a national congress on the matter was being held in the capital Bern.

Swiss media outlets quoted the EBG noting that domestic violence was widespread throughout the country, and men were responsible for some 78 percent of all incidents.

There were 36 deaths in domestic violence incidents in 2015, including small children.

Children were the victims in one in seven incidents, and they were present at the scene in some 50 percent of incidents in which the police had to intervene.

Although 9,195 people were pressed charges by authorities, only 1,500 people sought for professional consulting and help.

Previously on Nov. 18, a United Nations committee in Geneva noted the progress in gender equality and curbing domestic violence, while noting it is still concerned on low rates of reporting and low prosecution.

It also urged Switzerland to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention.

Introducing women's suffrage in 1971, Switzerland was the last Western republic that allowed women to vote on a federal level.