This map shows global and regional (by WHO region) prevalence estimates of lifetime and past 12 months physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) among ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49. The WHO European Region is highlighted.
2018 GLOBAL AND EUROPEAN REGION INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND NON-PARTNER SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVALENCE ESTIMATES
REGIONAL PREVALENCE ESTIMATES OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE
LIFETIME PREVALENCE
of ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 subjected to physical and/or sexual violence from a current or former husband or male partner at least once in their lifetime (since the age of 15). This works out to an average of 38 million women, and up to 45 million women, in this region.
PAST 12 MONTHS PREVALENCE
of ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 subjected to physical and/or sexual violence from a current or former husband or male partner in the past 12 months.
LIFETIME PREVALENCE
of women aged 15 years and oldersubjected to non-partner sexual violence at least once in their lifetime (since the age of 15).
LIFETIME PREVALENCE
of women aged 15–49 subjected to one or both of these forms of violence at least once in their lifetime.
Violence against women is a global public health crisis of pandemic proportions. It has
serious social and economic consequences for countries and societies.
“ “
Non-partner sexual violence (NPSV)
+
This fact sheet highlights the need for governments to reinforce the commitments made to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls (Sustainable Development Goal 5, target 5.2).
31%
26%
7%
6%
13%
6%
27%
Intimate 21%
partner violence (IPV)
Key Global prevalence
estimates WHO European Region prevalence estimates
Combined IPV and/or NPSV
WHO EUROPEAN REGION FACT SHEET
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN PREVALENCE ESTIMATES, 2018
lifetime prevalence IPV(%)
past 12 months prevalence IPV(%)
South-East South-East Asia Region Asia Region African Region
African Region 20 33
Western Pacific Western Pacific
Region Region 20
8
17 33 Region
of the Americas 25
7 Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean Region Region
31 17
European Region European Region
21 6
Least Developed Countries
22 37 Low- and middle- income countries (European Region)
22 8
Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina Georgia
Kazakhstan Kosovo b Kyrgyzstan Montenegro North Macedonia Republic of Moldova Serbia
Tajikistan Turkey Ukraine
High-income countries:
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland
Israel [no data for lifetime]
Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
This chart shows country prevalence estimates of lifetime and past 12 months IPV among ever-married/partnered women aged 15–49 in countries and areas of the WHO European Region.a
COUNTRY PREVALENCE ESTIMATES OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE (IPV)
IPV lifetime IPV past 12 months
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30
Low- and middle-income countries and areas:
13%
15%
10%
22%
14%
19%
21%
13%
12%
16%
10%
22%
16%
23%
13%
21%
23%
23%
16%
22%
27% 13%
18%
17%
19%
24%
21% 16%
18%
25% 16%
22%20%
21%17%
20% 13%
18%18%
18%18%
21% 15%
24% 12%
6%
4%
5%
5%
5%
6%
6%
4%
3%
3%
3%
4%
6%
3%
5%
4%
13%
8%
4%
5%
4% 9%
5%
4%
6%
14%
3%
12%
3%
9%
4%6%
5%6%
4%4%
4%5%
3%4%
6%7%
3%3%
2%6%
4%
a There are a total of 53 Member States in the region.
b All references to Kosovo should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). It is included in this table because it had data that met the inclusion criteria.
(Global average: 27) (Global average: 13)
32%
3 GLOBAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ESTIMATES FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Support – Empower and invest in autonomous women’s rights organizations to apply their expertise in addressing violence against women and guide decision-making in programming and policy-making.
Services – Scale up comprehensive, accessible and quality survivor- centred services for women affected by violence and their children through capacity-building of service providers in all sectors (health, judicial, education, social), including in humanitarian crises. Strengthen joined-up multisectoral responses to better respond to and prevent violence against women.
Prevention – Support and scale up nationalized and localized evidence- driven programmes and strategies for prevention. Promote and support community-based and women’s organizations’ efforts to end violence against women.
Data – Strengthen data collection, reporting and use. Invest in high- quality surveys on violence against women and improve measurement of the different forms of violence that women are subjected to.
URGENT ACTION IS NEEDED
Society – Challenge norms and attitudes that discriminate against women and girls, especially regarding the acceptability of violence against women, including through school- and community-based programmes and interventions.
Policy and laws – Institute and implement laws and regulations that promote gender equality (e.g. girls’ and women’s equitable access to secondary education, paid employment and property/inheritance rights, as well as laws to address violence against women).
For more information contact vawestimates@who.int
This report was produced by the WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research (SRH), including HRP, for the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Violence Against Women Estimation and Data (VAW-IAWGED).
Download the full report here.
WHO/SRH/21.9 © World Health Organization 2021. Some rights reserved.
This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence.
