Every 10 Minutes, a Woman Is Murdered by a Family Member, UN Says

Every 10 minutes last year, a woman somewhere in the world was killed by a person close to her, the United Nations said on Monday, highlighting the ongoing global crisis of femicide and the lack of progress in combating violence against women.

A joint report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women revealed that approximately 50,000 women and girls were murdered by intimate partners or family members in 2024. The data, collected from 117 countries, underscores the alarming prevalence of domestic violence worldwide.

The report noted that 60 per cent of female homicide victims were killed by someone they knew, including partners, fathers, mothers, uncles, and brothers. By contrast, only 11 per cent of male victims were killed by relatives or intimate partners. The 50,000 deaths translate to roughly 137 women per day—or one woman every 10 minutes—emphasizing the severity and frequency of the problem.

Although the total figure is slightly lower than the 2023 estimate, the report cautioned that this does not necessarily indicate a real decrease in femicides, as variations in reporting and data availability across countries affect the numbers.

Femicide remains a persistent global threat, with the home identified as the most dangerous environment for women and girls in terms of the risk of being killed. No region of the world was exempt, though Africa recorded the highest number of femicides, with approximately 22,000 deaths in 2024.

“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 Hendricks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division. She emphasized that technology has amplified and created new forms of violence, including non-consensual image-sharing, doxxing, and deepfake videos.

The UN report called for urgent action, stressing the need for robust laws that address all forms of violence against women and girls—both online and offline—and hold perpetrators accountable before abuse escalates to deadly outcomes. “We need the implementation of laws that recognize how violence manifests across the lives of women and girls, and ensure accountability well before it turns deadly,” Hendricks added.

The release of the report coincided with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, drawing renewed attention to the urgent global challenge of ending femicide and protecting women from violence in all spheres of life.