The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women have released a new report documenting the prevalence of intimate partner and domestic violence against women and girls around the world.
In 2024, some 50,000 women and girls across the globe were killed by their intimate partners or family members, representing 60 percent of all femicides that year. This equates to an average of 137 women and girls killed every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative. Notably, femicides by intimate partners or family members decreased slightly from the 2023 estimate of 51,100 victims. However, the report authors say this change is not indicative of an actual decrease, but rather changes in data availability at the country level.
The vast majority of femicides by intimate partners or family members in 2024 occurred in Africa, where 22,600 women or girls were intentionally killed by a partner or close relative, equating to 3three victims per 100,000 women. Asia had the second-highest total number of femicides by partners or relatives (17,400 victims) and the third-highest population rate of 0.7 victims per 100,000 women. In the Americas, 7,000 women or girls were victims of femicide by intimate partners or relatives, equating to 1.5 victims per 100,000 women.
Conversely, men are significantly less likely to be victims of homicide by partners or relatives. Although men represented 80 percent of all homicide victims in 2024, only 11.2 percent of male homicide victims were committed by an intimate partner or relative.
In the Americas and Europe, women are much more likely to be killed by a partner than a family member. Among those who were killed within the domestic sphere, 69 percent of women in the Americas and 64 percent of women in Europe were killed by an intimate partner in 2024.