The research studies emotional, physical and sexual abuse from threats and belittlement to beatings and rape.
The ONS estimates that 8.5 million people aged between 18 and 74 were abused or witnessed abuse as children.
Around 14% of adults who called one charity helpline last year had not told anyone before.
The research was compiled using data from the Department for Education, the Welsh Government, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), which runs the helpline.
It aims to provide a better understanding of the scale and nature of the abuse of children.
There is no single definition of child abuse, and the report includes a variety of offences or negative experiences.
It includes sexual abuse, such as rape and other assaults like indecent exposure; physical abuse, such as throwing objects and smacking; and emotional abuse, including behaviour that suggests a child is not loved.
The report also takes into consideration people who witnessed as children any of those forms of abuse.
It shows that at the end of March last year, more than 54,000 children were in the care of local authorities in England and Wales because they had experienced or were at risk of abuse.
In the year leading up to March 2019, Childline delivered 19,847 counselling sessions to children in the UK where abuse was the main concern.
That is a slight fall from the previous year, when 22,133 counselling sessions were given for this reason.
Source: BBC
