51,100 women and girls are estimated to have been killed by family members or intimate partners worldwide in 2023, according to a new report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This equates to an average of 140 women or girls having been killed by a relative each day last year. While far more men are killed in homicides worldwide than women (80 percent of homicide victims were men in 2023), females are overrepresented in the home sphere, with almost 60 per cent of all women who were intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner/family member homicide.
As the following chart based on UN estimates shows, gender-based violence takes place in all regions worldwide. In 2023, Africa was the region with the highest number of intimate partner/family femicides at 21,700 cases. Women in the region also faced the highest risk of femicide, with 2.9 women or girls killed by a family members or intimate partner per 100,000 female population. In terms of absolute numbers, Asia was ranked second with 18,500 women or girls killed that year, while the Americas saw the second highest relative risk with 1.6 women or girls killed per 100,000 female population. UN researchers note, however, that these figures are estimates and that data availability, i.e. the number of countries reporting data on the killing of women and girls by intimate partners or family members has halved between 2020 and 2023.
The UN defines gender-related killings as: “Intentional killings committed on the grounds of gender-related factors. These can include the ideology of men’s entitlement and privilege over women, social norms regarding masculinity, and the need to assert male control or power, enforce gender roles, or prevent, discourage or punish what is considered to be unacceptable female behavior.”
November 25 is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
