Homicide and femicide continues to take the lives of tens of thousands of women and girls worldwide, with no sign of real progress.

 

Last year, 83,000 women and girls were killed intentionally. Of them, 60 per cent – 50,000 women and girls – were killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members. This means one woman or girl is killed by a partner or family member almost every 10 minutes – an average of 137 every day. In contrast, just 11 per cent of male homicides were perpetrated by intimate partners or family members. “Femicides don’t happen in isolation. They often sit on a continuum of violence that can start with controlling behavior, threats, and harassment – including online,” said Sarah Hendriks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division. Women and girls are subjected to this extreme form of violence in every region in the world, notes the 2025 femicide report. It is estimated that the highest rate of femicide by an intimate partner/family member was in Africa (3 per 100,000 women and girls), followed by the Americas (1.5), Oceania (1.4), Asia (0.7) and Europe (0.5). Though femicides are also committed outside of the home, the amount of data remains limited. To help close these gaps, UN Women and UNODC are working closely with countries on the implementation of the 2022 statistical framework to enhance the identification, recording, and classification of gender-related killings of women and girls. Improving data availability will be vital to accurately assess the magnitude and consequences of these femicides, to support effective responses, and seek justice.





Transcript

“Unfortunately for women, the home continues to be the most dangerous place for them in terms of risk of homicide, “ marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the 2025 femicide report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women confirms that femicide continues to take the lives of tens of thousands of women and girls worldwide, with no sign of real progress.