Facts and figures: Ending violence against women

• Global scale of violence against women: An estimated 840 million women – almost one in three – have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life (30 per cent of women aged 15 and older). This figure, which does not include sexual harassment, has remained largely unchanged in the last two decades. Progress in reducing intimate partner violence has been very slow over the last two decades with only a 0.2 per cent annual decline. Women who have experienced violence are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety disorders, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and HIV, with long-lasting consequences.
• Sexual violence by someone other than the partner is widespread, but highly under-reported. Globally, 8 percent or 263 million women 15 years and older report experiencing sexual violence from someone other than a partner at least once in their lifetime.
• While violence affects women everywhere, there are disparities across regions and countries. Women in countries classified as lowest-income, conflict-affected, and climate-vulnerable settings are disproportionately affected. For example, the regions of Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), UN SDG classified Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have an estimated 38 per cent, 18 per cent and 17 per cent prevalence of past 12 months intimate partner violence respectively, which is higher than the global average of 11 per cent.

• In 2024, around 50,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members. Lower than the 2023 estimate, this change is not indicative of an actual decrease as it is largely due to differences in data availability at the country level. The 2024 figure means that 60 per cent of the almost 83,300 women and girls killed intentionally during the year were murdered by their intimate partners or other family members. In other words, an average of 137 women and girls worldwide lost their lives every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative.
• While 60 per cent of all female homicides are committed by intimate partners or other family members, only 11 per cent of all male homicides are perpetrated in the private sphere.

Women who suffer multiple forms of discrimination face a higher risk of violence and are more vulnerable to its consequences.

• Violence against women starts early, and risks persist throughout life. Adolescent girls are more at risk of intimate-partner violence than adult women. In the past year only, almost 1 in 6 adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 years old (16 per cent) who have been in a relationship have already been physically or sexually abused by a partner. Still in the past year, between 4-5 percent of women aged 60 and older have experienced intimate partner violence. The true figure however, may be higher as this does not capture additional types of violence older women may face, such as withholding of medication or assistive devices or financial abuse, and neglect.
• Gender inequality and misogyny directly contribute to partner violence: A regional analysis of Women’s Health Surveys conducted in five CARICOM Member States – Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago – from 2016 to 2019 found that ever-partnered women aged 15-64 who were in relationships with men who had beliefs that reinforce male dominance and gender inequality were more likely to have experienced lifetime and current domestic violence. Behaviours intended to control women’s bodies, autonomy and contact with others are also strongly correlated with an increased experience of intimate partner violence. 
• In the digital spaces the proliferation and normalization of misogynistic content through the manosphere is expanding harmful social norms used to justify VAWG online and offline.
• Women with disabilities report a higher rate of all forms of intimate partner violence than women without disabilities. A recent review confirmed a strong link between disability and increased risk of violence. A study conducted in the European Union revealed that women with disabilities faced higher risks of experiencing violence, and that the risk was even higher for women with disabilities on a low income.

Interlocking crises including economic crises, conflicts, and climate change are intensifying gender-based violence with marginalized women facing disproportionate and multiple forms of intersecting discrimination.

• Climate change and environmental degradation increase the risks of violence against women and girls due to displacement, resource scarcity and food insecurity, and disruption to services for survivors:
  • It is estimated that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women.
  • After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the rate of rape among displaced women displaced rose 6 times the baseline rate in Mississippi for that year.
  • Following the Canterbury earthquake, New Zealand police reported a 53 per cent rise in domestic violence.
  • In Ethiopia there was an increase in girls sold into early marriage in exchange for livestock to help families cope with the impacts of prolonged droughts.
  • Nepal witnessed an increase in trafficking from an estimated 3,000-5,000 annually in 1990 to 12,000-20,000 per year after the 2015 earthquake.
• Humanitarian contexts have a severe impact on the safety of women with 70 per cent of women experience gender-based violence (GBV) in humanitarian contexts compared with 35 per cent worldwide.
  • Child marriage rates are 4 percentage points higher in conflict-affected areas.
  • In Afghanistan, by July 2024, 64 per cent of women reported feeling “not at all” safe leaving home by themselves, compared to 2 per cent of men. Eight per cent of the surveyed women claimed they knew at least one woman or girl who has attempted suicide in the last three years.
  • In Haiti, 8 per cent of women in camps said they had resorted to sex work/prostitution to meet their needs at least once, and an additional 20.6 per cent reported knowing at least one person who had done so.
• Displacement and gender-based violence: Forcibly displaced women in Colombia and Liberia were at 40 per cent and 55 per cent greater risk, respectively, of experiencing intimate-partner violence in the past year compared to non-displaced women.

• Women and girls remain the biggest share of detected victims worldwide, accounting for 61 per cent of the total in 2022, and most of them continue to be trafficked for sexual exploitation, a pattern that has carried on for many years now.

• Slow decline in global rate of child marriage: 1 in 5 young women aged 20–24 was first married or in a union before age 18 (19 per cent), reflecting a moderate decrease since 2014 (22 per cent). However, to end child marriage by 2030 progress needs to accelerate 20 times the current rate. If no progress is made, 9 million girls will marry in childhood in the year 2030, with girls from the poorest and most marginalized communities disproportionately affected.
• School-related gender-based violence: Globally, one in three students, aged 11–15, have been bullied by their peers at school at least once in the past month, with girls and boys equally likely to experience bullying. While boys are more likely to experience physical bullying than girls, girls are more likely to experience psychological bullying, and they report being made fun of because of how their face or body looks more frequently than boys.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains a deeply entrenched practice affecting millions of women and girls worldwide. Despite global efforts to eliminate it, FGM continues to pose severe health risks, violate fundamental human rights, and perpetuate gender inequality, particularly in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

• Over 230 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation, representing a 15 per cent increase – or 30 million more girls and women – compared to data from eight years ago. 63 per cent of cases happen in Africa. Each year, 4 million girls undergo female genital mutilation; over 2 million are under age 5.

The lack of a common definition for technology-facilitated violence against women and girls makes it challenging to collect comparable global data. However, country and regional studies reveal alarmingly high rates of online harassment and abuse. There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating how violence in the online space (i.e. coercive control, surveillance and stalking) may manifest itself offline in various ways, including through physical violence leading to femicide.

• One in 10 women in the European Union report having experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15. This included having received unwanted and/or offensive sexually explicit emails or SMS messages, or offensive and/or inappropriate advances on social networking sites.
• In the Arab States, a regional study found that 60 per cent of women internet users in the region had been exposed to online violence in the past year.
• In the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe countries, more than half of women present online in the region have experienced some form of technology-facilitated violence in their lifetime.
• In Uganda, in 2021, about half of the women (49 per cent) reported to have ever been involved in online harassment.
• According to a 2016 survey by the Korean National Human Rights Commission, 85 per cent of women experienced hate speech online.

Women in public life, including parliamentarians and journalists, face high levels of psychological violence, harassment, and threats, often tied to their gender. These forms of violence not only threaten their personal safety but also hinder gender equality and democratic participation. Women with high levels of public visibility including journalists, politicians and activists have an elevated risk of experiencing technology-facilitated violence. One in four women journalists globally and one in three women parliamentarians in Asia-Pacific reported having received online threats of physical violence, including death threats.

• Violence against women lawmakers: 
  • Across five regions, 82 per cent of women parliamentarians reported having experienced some form of psychological violence while serving their terms. This included remarks, gestures, and images of a sexist or humiliating sexual nature, threats, and mobbing.
  • Social media is the main platform for this type of abuse, with nearly half (44 per cent) of women lawmakers reporting receiving death, rape, assault, or abduction threats towards them or their families.
  • Sixty-five per cent of women parliamentarians reported being subjected to sexist remarks, primarily by male colleagues in parliament.
• Violence against women journalists: 
  • A global survey revealed that 73 per cent of women journalists have experienced online violence.
  • 20 per cent said they had been attacked or abused offline in connection with online violence they had experienced.
  • The reporting theme most often linked to heightened attacks on women journalists was gender (49 per cent), followed by politics and elections (44 per cent), and human rights and social policy (31 per cent).

• Less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort. In the majority of countries with available data on this issue, women who do seek help look to family and friends and very few seek support from formal institutions, such as police and health services.
• Less than 10 per cent of those seeking help appealed to the police.

• Limited legal protection: In 2022, only 14 per cent of all women and girls – about 557 million – were living in countries with robust legal protection to guarantee women’s fundamental human rights.
• Countries with domestic violence legislation have lower rates of intimate partner violence than those without such legislation (9.5 per cent compared to 16.1 per cent). And yet, only about 55 percent of countries have comprehensive laws addressing domestic violence. Although 151 countries have laws in place prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace, just 39 have laws prohibiting it in public spaces. Women do, then, face perils in using public transportation to travel to work. 
• Gaps in legislation:
  • Over 60 per cent of countries still lack rape laws based on the principle of consent.
  • Less than half of the global population of women are protected by laws against cyber harassment.
  • Overall, 139 countries lack adequate legislation prohibiting child marriage.

• Tracking budget allocation for gender equality: As of 2023, only 27 countries have comprehensive systems to track and make budgetary allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Decline in funding to end violence against women:
  • Despite an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding over the last five years, funding to end violence against women has fallen 13 per cent between 2018-2019 and 2020-2021.
  • 99 per cent of gender-related ODA does not reach local women’s rights organizations and feminist movements.
  • Only about 5 per cent of the total OECD member states funding for ending violence against women and girls is allocated to civil society organizations.

Violence against women incurs significant costs to the state, to victims/survivors, and communities. Costs are both direct and indirect, and tangible and intangible. For example, the costs of the salaries of individuals working at shelters are direct tangible costs. Costs are borne by everyone, including individual victims/survivors, perpetrators, the government and society in general. Here are some examples of the economic toll of gender-based violence across the world:

• In Viet Nam, the combined costs of out of pocket expenditures and lost earnings due to violence represent nearly 1.41 per cent of the GDP. Women experiencing violence earn 35 per cent less than those who have not, highlighting another significant drain on the national economy.
• In Egypt, an estimated 500,00 working days are lost each year due to marital violence and the health sector bears over USD 14 million in costs to serve just one quarter (600,000) of survivors.
• In Morocco, the total annual cost of physical and/or sexual violence against women was estimated at 2.85 billion dirhams (around USD 308 millions) a year.
• Across the European Union, the cost of gender-based violence was estimated at EUR 366 billion a year, with violence against women makes up 79 per cent of this cost, or EUR 289 billion.