Women More Likely to be Killed by Partners or Relatives

Every day, 137 women worldwide are killed by their current or former partner or a family member - 64 percent of all victims killed by partners or family worldwide are women. Women also account for 82 percent of victims killed by their partner or ex-partner, as data from a recent UN report on femicide shows.

Violence against women is often based on a stereotypical gender image that sees men in an authoritarian role that gives them the right to dominate women and their behavior, e.g. tell them what to do, when to have sex, how to dress. According to the authors of the UN study, those who hold such views are more inclined towards lethal violence against women. Other important factors include low levels of education, childhood and other experiences of abuse/violence as well as problematic alcohol use.

Asia accounts for the largest number of murders of women with 20,000 cases, followed by Africa (19,000). In relative terms however, Africa is a more dangerous place for women with 3.1 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants (Asia: 0.9). The Americas had a rate of 1.6 offenses. In Europe, that number was 0.7 murders per 100,000 women.