Facts and figures: Ending violence against women

The availability of data on violence against women and girls has improved considerably in recent years and data on the prevalence of intimate partner violence is now available for at least 161 countries. Please visit our research and data page to better understand how data is crucial to UN Women’s work on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. 

Prevalence of violence against women and girls

  • Global scale of violence against women: An estimated 736 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 does not include sexual harassment. 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.
  • Violence by intimate partners: Most violence against women is committed by current or former husbands or intimate partners. More than 640 million women aged 15 and older (26 per cent) have been subjected to intimate partner violence.

Femicides/Feminicides

Risk factors of violence against women and girls

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

  • Violence against adolescent girls: are more at risk of intimate-partner violence than adult women. By the time they are 19 years old, almost 1 in 4 adolescent girls (24%) who have been in a relationship have already been physically, sexually, or psychologically abused by a partner.
  • Partner violence and gender inequality in the Caribbean: 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.
  • 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.

Climate, health, and humanitarian crises fuel violence against women and girls

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

Sexual violence against women and girls

Human trafficking and exploitation of women

Violence against girls

Female genital mutilation

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.

Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls

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:

Violence against women in public life

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.

Reporting of violence against women

Laws on violence against women and girls

Funding to end violence against women and girls

Economic costs of violence against women and girls

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:

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