UN Report: A woman or girl killed every 10 minutes worldwide

A new United Nations report has warned that a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes worldwide, underscoring a lack of progress in preventing femicides. Released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the 2025 femicide report by UNODC and UN Women estimates that 83,000 women and girls were deliberately killed in 2024.
Nearly 60 percent died at the hands of intimate partners or family members, highlighting the persistent danger within the home. The UN notes that technology has intensified forms of abuse such as cyberstalking, coercive control, and image-based violence, which can escalate into lethal attacks. Africa recorded the highest regional femicide rate, followed by the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Europe. The report called for coordinated prevention efforts, stronger laws, and improved survivor services.
Some 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2024, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women said in a report released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Every year on November 25, the world observes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, a day dedicated to raising awareness, supporting survivors, and ending all forms of violence against women. This day was officially designated by the United Nations in 1999.It is commemorated in honor of the three Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic, who became symbols of resistance against a dictatorship.
Femicide continues to claim tens of thousands of lives of women and girls each year, with no sign of improvement, and the "home continues to be the most dangerous place for women and girls in terms of the risk of homicide," the study said. No region of the world went without femicide cases, but Africa again had the largest number last year with around 22,000, the report said."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," Sarah Hendricks, Director of UN Women's Policy Division, said in a statement."We need the implementation of laws that recognize how violence manifests across the lives of women and girls, both online and offline, and hold perpetrators to account well before it turns deadly," said Hendricks.