A new United Nations report has delivered a stark warning: violence against women is not only rising—it is becoming even more lethal.
Released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the report reveals that every 10 minutes in 2024, a woman or girl was intentionally killed by her partner or a family member. That adds up to an estimated 80,000 victims worldwide—a devastating average of 137 lives lost every single day.
“These numbers are alarmingly high,” UN Women cautioned, stressing that the true toll is likely far greater due to widespread under-reporting.
*Africa Bears the Heaviest Burden*
According to the findings, Africa recorded the highest number of intimate partner and family-related killings, with an estimated 22,600 victims, representing about three women killed per 100,000.
Across all regions, the report shows a common thread: current or former intimate partners account for roughly 60% of all gender-related family killings.
A Crisis Taking Many Forms
The UN defines femicide—gender-related killing of women and girls—as the “most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence” rooted in discrimination, unequal power structures, harmful norms and entrenched gender stereotypes.
Unlike homicide in general, femicide is driven specifically by gendered motives. It happens in homes, workplaces, schools, public spaces and digital environments. It is linked to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, harmful traditional practices, trafficking and even the dynamics of armed conflict and organized crime.
Femicide can arise from rape by strangers, so-called honour killings, female genital mutilation, hate crimes targeting sexual orientation or gender identity, or violence in gang-controlled areas.
Simply put, the crisis spans every country and every context.
*Women in Public Life Under Attack*
The digital world has become a dangerous frontier.
The report shows that one in four women journalists globally and one-third of women parliamentarians in the Asia-Pacific region have received online death threats.
Technology-facilitated abuse—cyberstalking, image-based blackmail, coercive control—frequently progresses offline, sometimes culminating in murder.
Women defenders on the frontlines are especially vulnerable: in 2022, 81 women environmental defenders and 34 women human rights defenders were killed. Indigenous women and transgender women also face disproportionately high risks worldwide.
*Why Femicide Is Rising*
The UN attributes the surge to a toxic combination of factors:
entrenched gender inequality
discriminatory social norms
weak justice and protection systems
conflict, displacement and humanitarian crises
online harassment and shrinking civic spaces
worsening economic conditions
These conditions, the report warns, “intensify lethal violence against women and girls.”
*What the UN Is Doing?**
To confront the crisis, the UN is pushing governments to strengthen legal protections, improve data gathering, and expand survivor-centred services. It supports prevention programmes, trains law enforcement, and leads public campaigns challenging harmful social norms.
The organisation also points to Sustainable Development Goal 5, which focuses on gender equality, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as key international tools to address gender-based violence.
