Femicides at a twenty-year peak across globe | Data Premium

UN study finds 88,900 women/girls killed in 2022 due to gender-related factors; highest in 20 years. Data shows 55% of female victims killed by family/partners, 12% of male victims. Rate of femicides per 1 lakh women highest in Africa (2.8) & Americas (1.5), Asia (0.8). India saw small decline in gender-based killings in past decade, though dowry is still the leading cause of violence against women

About 88,900 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide on the grounds of gender-related factors in 2022, a recent study from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women shows. This is the highest number of such fatalities in a year, in the past 20 years. 

Chart 1 | The chart shows the year-wise murder of women/girls (femicide) across the globe for gender-related reasons.

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The UN study titled “Gender-related killings of women and girls (femicide/feminicide)”, published in November, also showed that while the total number of homicides worldwide decreased in 2022, femicide increased.

Chart 2 | The chart shows the male and female share of homicide victims.

In general, victims of homicides worldwide tend to be men or boys. As shown in Chart 2, men formed 80% of the total victims of homicide in 2022, while women’s share was 20%. When the data is examined based on the perpetrators of these murders, a significant disparity becomes evident between female and male victims. Women are more likely to be murdered by their partners or someone known to them. This extends from the fact that women are subjected to physical violence mostly from their immediate family members.

Chart 3 | The chart shows the share of intimate partner/family-related homicides among all female and male homicides.