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How do US, Canada, and UK rape rates compare to global averages in 2023?

Checked on November 12, 2025
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Executive Summary

The available materials do not provide reliable, directly comparable rape-rate figures for the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for 2023, and therefore you cannot determine how those countries' rates compare to a 2023 global average from these sources alone. The supplied analyses repeatedly emphasize incomplete data, inconsistent definitions, and outdated year ranges (notably 2010 and earlier), so any definitive 2023 comparison would be unsupported by the documents provided [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6].

1. What the supplied claims actually say — expectations versus evidence

The package of analyses makes several claims about national rape rates and comparability but offers little contemporaneous data for 2023; one extract reports a 2010-style snapshot that lists a U.S. rate of 27.3 per 100,000 and Canada at 1.7, while the UK is not clearly enumerated and is inferred only by comparison to other European figures [3]. Multiple summaries emphasize that the sources “do not contain specific data on the 2023 rape rates” for the US, Canada, or the UK and that some source materials end as early as 2014 or originate from 2007, which undermines any attempt to project a 2023 comparison [1] [2] [6].

2. Why cross-country comparisons are unreliable based on these sources

The analyses highlight methodological problems that make cross-country comparisons fraught: varying legal definitions of rape, differences in reporting practices, and inconsistent data collection years. One analysis points to Sweden as an example where a broader legal definition inflates reported rates relative to countries with narrower statutory language, and it cautions that global survey estimates of sexual violence (for example, rates of sexual harassment or nonreporting) do not translate cleanly into police-recorded rape rates [4] [5]. These caveats mean that even if recent raw numbers existed in these documents, their comparability would still be questionable.

3. What the specific sources do and do not contribute

Several documents in the packet provide snapshots or commentary but lack coherent, up-to-date national totals for 2023. One source explicitly states that it lacks 2023 data and centers on Canadian sexual assault statistics without global context [2]. Another provides a historical table that is useful for long-term context but is dated and cannot support 2023 claims; it lists older national figures and notes disparities between countries without a global average [3] [7]. The repeated conclusion across inputs is the same: no valid 2023 global-average comparison is present.

4. Alternative angles and omitted considerations the package flags

Beyond raw counting, the materials consistently flag crucial omitted considerations: underreporting to law enforcement (with one analysis noting fewer than 10% of victims contact police in many contexts), survey-vs-record differences, and the political or legal agendas that can shape interpretation of headline rates (for example, national campaigns to expand legal definitions or improve reporting will raise recorded rates even as actual incidence may be unchanged) [4] [8]. These dynamics mean that increases or decreases in recorded rape rates can reflect policy change, reporting culture, or definitional shifts rather than pure changes in prevalence.

5. Bottom line and what would be needed to answer your question decisively

Based on the materials supplied, the correct conclusion is that you cannot accurately compare US, Canadian, and UK rape rates to a 2023 global average because the package lacks recent, harmonized data and repeatedly warns about comparability problems; any attempt at a 2023 comparison using only these sources would be speculative [1] [5] [6]. To answer the question authoritatively would require recent, country-level rape-rate figures from national statistical agencies or standardized international datasets (with publication dates and harmonized definitions) plus an explicit methodology for constructing a global average; none of that is present in the provided documents [3] [4].

Want to dive deeper?
What factors affect reported rape rates in the US, Canada, and UK?
How do legal definitions of rape differ between US, Canada, UK, and international standards?
Trends in rape rates for US, Canada, UK from 2018 to 2023
Reliable sources for global rape statistics like UNODC 2023 data
Impact of underreporting on international rape rate comparisons