6 in 10 Female Homicides Occur Within the Private Sphere

While women are much less likely to become victims of homicide than men are, they are disproportionately affected by (deadly) violence in the private sphere. While 80 percent of homicide victims are male, men are rarely killed by someone close to them. Women on the other hand are most likely to be killed by their partner or other family members, with such killings accounting for 60 percent of female homicides globally in 2024.

According to estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the share of intimate partner/family member femicides in all intentional killings of girls and women was even higher in Oceania and Africa at 74 and 67 percent, respectively. The UNODC writes that femicides are often culminations of repeated episodes of gender-based violence, meaning they would be preventable through timely interventions.

The UN estimates that 50,000 women and girls were killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members in 2024, which equates to an average of 137 women killed every day, or one woman every 10 minutes.