Safety & Rights
Violence against women and girls is the most widespread human rights violation in the world, and it is measured. The figures below come from WHO estimates and UN crime statistics, not from surveys of opinion.
Educational information only. Linha de Fala does not provide legal, medical, psychological or other professional advice, and is not an emergency or reporting service.
In short
What is it?
Violence against women and girls, and the legal rights that are supposed to protect them.
What do the numbers show?
Almost 1 in 3 women worldwide has experienced physical or sexual violence at least once.
Where is it happening?
Every country and every income level. Reporting rates, not violence, are what differ most.
Who is affected?
Women and girls of all ages; young women aged 15–24 are among the most affected.
Why does it matter?
Safety is the condition for everything else — school, work, public life and political participation.
What is it?
It covers intimate partner violence, sexual violence by non-partners, femicide, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
Most violence against women is committed by someone they know, most often a current or former partner.
Legal protection is uneven: many countries still have no specific law on domestic violence, or exemptions that weaken it.
Why does it matter?
- Violence limits education, work, health and participation in public life.
- Under-reporting is the norm, so official police figures are always lower than survey estimates.
- Laws exist in many places but enforcement, shelters and support services decide whether they work.
The Numbers
736 million
Women who have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once — almost 1 in 3
51,100
Women and girls killed by an intimate partner or family member
1 in 5
Young women who were married before the age of 18
230 million
Girls and women alive today who have undergone female genital mutilation
Figures on this page are reproduced from the publications listed under Sources. Linha de Fala summarises and explains them; it does not recalculate or estimate them.
Around the World
- Africa
- Recorded the highest rate of killings of women by partners or family members relative to population in 2023.Source: UNODC / UN Women, 2024
- Europe and the Americas
- Most women killed by intimate partners or relatives in these regions were killed by a current or former partner.Source: UNODC / UN Women, 2024
- South Asia
- Home to the largest number of child brides worldwide, although rates have fallen over the last decade.Source: UNICEF, 2023
Young Voices
The Global Youth Contributors Program is one international program. There are no country-specific teams or applications — everyone joins the same program by sending a DM on Instagram.
Are you writing about this issue where you live? Join the Global Youth Contributors Program.
What Governments Are Doing
- Domestic violence lawsSpecific legislation criminalising domestic violence, with protection orders and shelters attached.Source: World Bank, Women, Business and the Law
- National action plansCoordinated plans on prevention, services, justice and data collection, as recommended under the UN framework.Source: UN Women
- Prevalence surveysRegular national surveys, because police records only capture the small share of cases that are reported.Source: WHO
Data & Sources
Statistics on this page come from reliable international organisations and official datasets. Each statistic includes its original year and source so readers can verify the information themselves.
- Source
- World Health Organization
- Year
- 2021
- Indicator
- Violence against women prevalence estimates, 2018
- Source
- UNODC / UN Women
- Year
- 2024
- Indicator
- Femicides in 2023: global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides
- Source
- UNICEF
- Year
- 2023
- Indicator
- Child marriage data
- Source
- UNICEF
- Year
- 2024
- Indicator
- Female genital mutilation: a global concern