On November 24, 2025, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women published a report looking into the issue of femicide. The report estimated that around 50,000 women and girls were killed in the private sphere (by intimate partners or family members). In 2024, about 60% of all intentional killings of women and girls were by someone in their family, an average of 137 women and girls.
Femicide is the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls. These killings, with a gender-related motivation, are often driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls, unequal power relations between women and men, and harmful social norms. Despite the ever-growing awareness of the issue, femicide continues to be omnipresent. The Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls, developed by UNODC and UN Women, identifies three types of femicide: (a) intentional homicides of women and girls perpetrated by intimate partners; (b) intentional homicides of women and girls perpetrated by other family members; and (c) intentional homicides of women and girls committed by perpetrators other than intimate partners or other family members and meet other criteria.
While the 2024 data is marginally lower than in 2023, this does not mean progress in the area of prevention, and is largely due to differences in data availability at the country level. Furthermore, as explained in the report, femicide continues to affect women and girls everywhere in the world – no region is excluded.In 2024, Africa was the region with the highest number, with an estimated 22,600 victims of intimate partner/family member femicide. Africa also continued to account for the highest rate of femicide, with an estimated 2.6 femicides per 100,000 female population.
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