Every ten minutes, a clock ticks toward a preventable tragedy. According to the latest data released by the United Nations, a woman or girl is killed by her own intimate partner or a family member almost every ten minutes across the globe. This equates to an average of 137 lives extinguished every single day, not by strangers in dark alleys, but by the people who were supposed to love and protect them. While the world often focuses on street crime and external threats, the data reveals a chilling reality: for too many women and girls, the home remains the most dangerous place they will ever inhabit.
Last year alone, a staggering 83,000 women and girls were killed intentionally. Within this grim total, the gendered nature of violence becomes undeniable. Sixty per cent of these victims—approximately 50,000 individuals—were killed by intimate partners or family members. To put this in perspective, the disparity between male and female victims is vast. While men are statistically more likely to be victims of homicide overall, only 11 per cent of male homicides are perpetrated by intimate partners or family members. For women, the domestic sphere is the primary site of lethal violence, making femicide a distinct and systemic crisis that requires a specialized global response.
The 2025 femicide brief, a collaborative effort between UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), underscores that these killings are rarely isolated incidents. Instead, they are the final, fatal step on a long "continuum of violence." Sarah Hendriks, Director of UN Women’s Policy Division, points out that the path to femicide often begins long before a weapon is drawn. It starts with controlling behavior, verbal threats, and persistent harassment. In the modern era, this continuum has expanded into the digital realm, where technology is increasingly weaponized to track, shame, and terrorize women.
The United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism campaign this year is shining a much-needed spotlight on how digital violence acts as a catalyst for physical harm. "Digital violence often doesn’t stay online," Hendriks warned. "It can escalate offline and, in the worst cases, contribute to lethal harm, including femicide." This evolution of abuse means that a woman’s safety can no longer be guaranteed by simply locking her door. If a perpetrator can access her location through spyware, ruin her reputation through deepfakes, or flood her inbox with death threats, the psychological and physical walls meant to protect her are effectively bypassed.
John Brandolino, the acting Executive Director of UNODC, echoed these concerns, emphasizing that the home continues to be a site of lethal risk for far too many. He noted that the 2025 report serves as a "stark reminder" that current prevention strategies and criminal justice responses are failing to account for the specific conditions that allow this extreme violence to flourish. Without a shift in how the justice system identifies and intervenes in the early stages of domestic abuse, the cycle of femicide will continue unabated.
The geography of femicide reveals that no corner of the globe is immune, though the rates of violence vary significantly by region. According to the 2025 report, Africa records the highest rate of femicide committed by intimate partners or family members, with an estimated 3 deaths per 100,000 women and girls. The Americas follow with a rate of 1.5, while Oceania stands at 1.4. In Asia, the rate is 0.7, and Europe records the lowest regional rate at 0.5 per 100,000. These numbers reflect a complex web of social, economic, and legal factors, including the presence of conflict, the strength of gender equality laws, and the availability of support services for survivors.
However, experts caution that the numbers we see may only be the tip of the iceberg. While domestic femicides are the most documented, a significant number of gender-related killings occur outside the home, often in contexts of organized crime, human trafficking, or targeted hate crimes. Currently, the data for these "public" femicides remains limited, making it difficult for policymakers to grasp the full scale of the problem. To bridge this gap, UN Women and UNODC are working with various nations to implement the 2022 statistical framework. This initiative aims to standardize how countries identify, record, and classify gender-related killings. By improving data availability, the international community can more accurately assess the magnitude of femicide and design responses that are actually capable of delivering justice.
One of the most critical aspects of this year’s report is the clarification regarding statistical shifts. While the estimate of 50,000 women and girls killed in 2024 is slightly lower than the 51,100 estimated in 2023, the UN warns against interpreting this as a sign of progress. The change is largely attributed to fluctuations in data availability at the national level rather than an actual decrease in violence. This highlight serves as a reminder that without consistent, transparent reporting from every country, the fight against femicide remains a battle fought in the dark.
The release of these findings coincides with the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a global movement that runs annually from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day. This period is a time for governments, activists, and the private sector to align their efforts under the UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative.
In 2025, the campaign’s focus on digital violence is particularly timely. As technology advances, so do the methods of abuse. Digital violence now encompasses online stalking, gendered disinformation campaigns, the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (often referred to as "revenge porn"), and the use of AI-generated deepfakes to harass and silence women. These are not just "internet problems"; they are human rights violations that have devastating real-world consequences.
The UNiTE campaign is calling for a multi-pronged approach to dismantle this culture of violence. First, it urges governments to strengthen and modernize laws to recognize digital abuse as a serious crime. Second, it calls for tech companies to be held accountable for the safety of their platforms, demanding that they prioritize human rights over profit by implementing more robust moderation and reporting tools. Third, it emphasizes the need for sustained investment in prevention and digital literacy, ensuring that women and girls have the tools to navigate the digital world safely.
Crucially, the campaign advocates for "survivor-centered services." This means that when a woman comes forward to report abuse—whether it happened in her living room or on a social media app—the system must respond with empathy, urgency, and effective protection. Early intervention is the key to preventing a continuum of harassment from turning into a headline about a homicide. Holding perpetrators to account well before their behavior turns deadly is the only way to break the cycle.
Every woman and girl has the fundamental right to be safe in every part of her life, from her workplace and the digital town square to the privacy of her own home. Achieving this requires more than just awareness; it requires a fundamental shift in how society values the lives of women. As the 16 Days of Activism begin, the message from the United Nations is clear: the time for incremental change has passed. To save lives, the world must treat femicide and the violence that leads to it as the global emergency it truly is.
The work of UN Women remains at the heart of this struggle. As the lead UN entity for gender equality, the organization continues to push for the institutional and social changes necessary to close the gender gap. By shifting laws and challenging the social behaviors that normalize violence, they aim to build a world where the rights of women and girls are at the center of global progress. Because, as the organization states, gender equality is not just a policy goal—it is a fundamental requirement for a safe and just world.
For those looking to engage with the findings of the 2025 report, the UN will be holding a noon briefing on Tuesday, November 25, where representatives from UNODC and UN Women will provide further insights into the data. As the world watches, the hope is that these grim statistics will finally spark the decisive action needed to ensure that no more lives are lost to a clock that ticks every ten minutes.
