The number of American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2012 was 6,488. The number of American women who were murdered by current or ex male partners during that time was 11,766. That’s nearly double the amount of casualties lost during war.
Women are much more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence with 85 percent of domestic abuse victims being women and 15 percent men. Too many women have been held captive by domestic violence — whether through physical abuse, financial abuse, emotional abuse or a combination of all three.
We are inundated with news stories about domestic violence , from athletes beating their significant others in public elevators or in their own homes to celebrities publicly abusing their girlfriends. This problem is not one that will go away quickly or quietly.
As Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to an end, discussions about intimate partner abuse and its horrible repercussions should not. In an attempt to illustrate the gravity of abuse all genders (but largely women) face in the U.S., we rounded up 30 statistics on domestic violence.
Domestic violence is not a singular incident, it’s an insidious problem deeply rooted in our culture — and these numbers prove that.
3
The number of women murdered every day by a current or former male partner in the U.S.
38,028,000
The number of women who have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
disabilities final
American Psychological Association
4,774,000
The number of women in the U.S. who experience physical violence by an intimate partner every year.
1,509
The number of women murdered by men they knew in 2011. Of the 1,509 women, 926 were killed by an intimate parter and 264 of those were killed by an intimate partner during an argument.
disabilities final
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
18,000
The number of women who have been killed by men in domestic violence disputes since 2003.
1 in 4
The number of women who will be victims of severe violence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes.
1 in 7
The number of men who will be victims of severe violence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes.
worldwide
World Health Organization
8,000,000
The number of days of paid work women lose every year because of the abuse perpetrated against them by current or former male partners. This loss is equivalent to over 32,000 full-time jobs.
40-45
The percentage of women in physically abusive relationships who are raped and/or assaulted during the relationship.
nine seconds
Domestic Violence Statistics
18,500,000
The number of mental health care visits due to intimate partner violence every year.
$948
The average cost of emergency care for intimate partner violence related incidents for women. The average cost for men is $387.
pregnancy
American Psychological Association
2 in 5
The number of gay or bisexual men who will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.
50
The percentage of lesbian women who will experience domestic violence (not necessarily intimate partner violence) in their lifetimes.
81
The percentage of women who are stalked by a current or former male partner who are also physically abused by that partner.
firearms
Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From A Multisite Case Control Study
70
The percentage of women worldwide who will experience physical and/or sexual abuse by an intimate partner during their lifetimes.
98
The percentage of financial abuse that occurs in all domestic violence cases. The number one reason domestic violence survivors stay or return to the abusive relationship is because the abuser controls their money supply, leaving them with no financial resources to break free.
black women
University of Minnesota’s Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community
$5,800,000,000
The estimated cost of incidents of intimate partner violence perpetrated against women in the U.S. in 1995 alone.
21
The number of LGBT people murdered by their intimate partners in 2013. Fifty percent of them were people of color. This is the highest documented level of domestic violence homicide in the LGBT community in history.
2.6x
The amount of times more likely a transgender person of color is to become a victim of intimate partner violence than a non-LGBT person.
homelessness
National Coalition for the Homelessness
70x
The amount of times more likely a woman is to be murdered in the few weeks after leaving her abusive partner than at any other time in the relationship.
10,000,000
The number of children exposed to domestic violence every year.
25
The percentage of physical assaults perpetrated against women that are reported to the police annually.
