What proportion of female homicides worldwide are committed by intimate partners?
Executive summary
Global data show roughly 60% of women and girls killed intentionally are killed by intimate partners or family members — about 50,000 of ~83,000 female homicide victims in the most recent UNODC/UN Women estimate — meaning an average of 137 women and girls die each day in the private sphere [1] [2] [3]. Older and country‑level research gives lower and varying proportions (roughly 38–58% in different studies/regions), reflecting differences in definitions, years, and data coverage [4] [5].
1. What the newest global estimate says — the private sphere dominates
The 2024/2025 UNODC–UN Women reporting cycle finds that about 60% of women and girls intentionally killed worldwide were killed by an intimate partner or other family member — approximately 50,000 out of about 83,000 female homicide victims — which the agencies translate as 137 deaths per day in the private sphere [1] [2] [3].
2. Why that headline figure is higher than many earlier estimates
Earlier systematic reviews and some regional studies report lower medians: a 2013 systematic review estimated roughly 38.6% of female homicides were committed by intimate partners and that about 13.5% of all homicides were intimate‑partner‑perpetrated (noting wide inter‑country spread) [4]. The UNODC/UN Women figure is higher because it groups intimate partners and other family members and uses updated homicide datasets and new statistical frameworks designed to capture gender‑related killings [1] [3].
3. Definitions and scope matter — “intimate partner” vs “family member” vs “femicide”
The UN framework includes three femicide types: intimate partner killings, other family‑member killings, and killings by non‑family perpetrators that meet gender‑related criteria; the 60% headline groups the first two categories (intimate partner + other family) as “private sphere” killings, which raises the share relative to studies focusing only on intimate partners [6] [7] [1].
4. Regional variation — Africa and the Americas stand out
UNODC/UN Women report marked regional differences: Africa recorded the highest rate of intimate‑partner/family‑member femicide (about 3 per 100,000 women), followed by the Americas (1.5), Oceania (1.4), Asia (0.7) and Europe (0.5), underscoring that global proportions mask strong geographic variation [1] [2].
5. Country and historical studies show different pictures — the U.S. and Europe
National studies often show higher intimate‑partner shares among female victims than older multi‑country medians. U.S. research finds nearly half of female homicide victims were killed by intimate partners [8], and some European country reports cited by UN Women show around 56% of women killed were killed by intimate partners [5]. These numbers align with UN reporting that in Europe and the Americas a majority of domestic‑sphere killings are by intimate partners [9].
6. Methodological caveats — data gaps and changing collection
UN agencies and academic reviewers both warn that homicide datasets have missing relationship‑to‑victim fields, inconsistent legal coding, and limited coverage in some regions; trends can be tracked reliably only where data are sufficient (UNODC notes trends currently trackable mainly for the Americas and Europe) [3] [5]. Therefore global percentage estimates rest on modeling and assumptions to fill gaps [1].
7. Competing viewpoints and implications
International agencies present a consensus that the private sphere accounts for the majority of female homicides globally (UNODC/UN Women), while older systematic reviews place intimate partners alone at lower proportions (around 39% median) — the difference hinges on inclusion of other family members and updated data coverage [1] [4]. The policy implication is clear: prevention must focus on intimate‑partner and family violence, tailored to regional patterns [2] [10].
8. What reporting does not settle
Available sources do not mention a definitive worldwide time trend attributing the rise or fall of the private‑sphere share to a single cause; they also do not settle precise country‑level motives for every case beyond coded relationship categories (not found in current reporting) [1] [3]. Additionally, how much measurement improvements vs real incidence changes drive differences across reports is not fully resolved in the supplied materials [4] [5].
9. Bottom line for readers
Use the 60%/137‑a‑day UNODC–UN Women figure as the best current global estimate for women and girls killed by intimate partners or family members, but interpret it alongside earlier literature that gives a lower intimate‑partner‑only share (around 39% in a 2013 review) and with attention to major regional and methodological variation [1] [4].