statistics

Incidence, Prevalence, and Severity

Nearly one in every four women are beaten or raped by a partner during adulthood.
1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.
Three women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America, on average.
Over 22 percent of women surveyed, compared to 7.4 percent of men, reported being physically assaulted by a current or former partner in their lifetime.
Approximately 2.3 million people each year in the United States are raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend.
Women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner averaged 6.9 physical assaults per year by the same partner.
Approximately 37% of women seeking injury-related treatment in hospital emergency rooms were there because of injuries inflicted by a current or former spouse/partner.
Women are at an increased risk of harm shortly after separation from an abusive partner.

Children and Youth

Approximately 15.5 million children are exposed to domestic violence every year.
Men exposed to physical abuse, sexual abuse, and adult domestic violence as children were almost 4 times more likely than other men to have perpetrated domestic violence as adults, according to a large study.
Incest accounts for half of all sexual abuse cases.
Children that are exposed to violence are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes.
Girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence.

Costs:

The cost of intimate partner violence annually exceeds $5.8 billion, including $4.1 billion in direct health care expenses.
Between one-quarter and one-half of domestic violence victims report that they lost a job, at least in part, due to domestic violence.
Women who experienced domestic violence were more likely to experience spells of unemployment, have health problems, and be welfare recipients.
Domestic violence has been estimated to cost employers in the U.S. up to $13 billion each year.
In the U.S., rape is the most costly crime to its victims, totaling $127 billion a year including medical costs, lost earnings, pain, suffering and lost quality of life.
New research shows that intimate partner violence costs a health plan $19.3 million each year for every 100,000 women between the age of 18 and 64 enrolled.

Needs Remain:

In 2008, a 24-hour survey of domestic violence programs across the nation found that over 60,000 victims were served in one day. Unfortunately, due to a lack of resources, there were almost 9,000 unmet requests for services.24
In 2008 the National Domestic Violence Hotline received 236,907 calls, but over 29,000 of those calls went unanswered due to lack of resources.

For more information, visit the National Network to End Domestic Violence website or view their fact sheet.