30% Indian women aged 15-49 have faced intimate partner violence, says WHO report

Nearly 30 per cent of women in India aged 15 to 49 have experienced intimate partner violence at some point in their lives, while over a fifth faced such violence in 2023 alone, according to a new global report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Globally, nearly one in three women, an estimated 840 million, have been subjected to partner or sexual violence during their lifetime. The report, released ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls on November 25, draws on data from 168 countries collected between 2000 and 2023.

The findings also show that 8.4 per cent of women aged 15-49 worldwide have faced sexual violence by a non-partner. In India, about four per cent of women aged 15 and above have experienced non-partner sexual violence.

“Violence against women is one of humanity’s oldest and most pervasive injustices, yet one of the least acted upon,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. He noted that no society can call itself fair or healthy when such violence remains widespread, adding that behind each statistic is a woman or girl whose life has been permanently changed.

The report said progress in reducing violence remains slow, and the global target of eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030 is unlikely to be met at the current pace. It noted that risks are increasing in the context of humanitarian crises and environmental disasters. The report also highlighted a decline in global funding for programmes aimed to prevent violence against women. In 2022, only 0.2 per cent of global development aid went to prevention-focused initiatives and funding further decreased in 2025. The authors called for stronger government action. They also stressed the need to enforce laws and policies to strengthen the rights and safety of women.