Domestic Violence Against Women: India's Persistent Crisis

India continues to grapple with alarmingly high rates of domestic violence against women. According to recent OECD data published in the Global Gender Gap Report 2024, the country ranks among the worst in the Asia-Pacific region for this indicator, with nearly one in five (18 percent) Indian women having reported ever suffering intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence. Only Timor-Leste (28 percent) and Bangladesh (23 percent) record a higher prevalence of domestic violence in the region.

As our infographic also shows, of the more than 365,000 acts of violence against women recorded in 2022 by Indian authorities (National Crime Records Bureau), 38 percent were cruelty by a husband or relatives. In addition, dowry deaths, referring to the deaths of married women resulting from dowry disputes, accounted for 2 percent of reported crimes against women. This brings the proportion of domestic violence in the total number of reported violence against women in India to at least 40 percent, considering underestimation due to unreported cases.