Key takeaways:
- Sexual violence against children (SVAC) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are among the leading global risk factors for death and disability.
- More than 1 billion people worldwide experienced sexual violence during childhood, and 608 million women reported intimate partner violence in 2023.
- Prevalence of IPV and SVAC is highest in regions including sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
- The study linked SVAC to a wider range of health outcomes than previously recognized, including mental health disorders, chronic disease, and infectious illness.
- Researchers emphasize that IPV and SVAC should be treated as urgent public health priorities, not solely social or criminal justice issues.
Researchers have identified sexual violence against children (SVAC) and intimate partner violence (IPV) against women as among the top risks for mortality and morbidity worldwide, publishing their findings in The Lancet on December 9, 2025.1
Despite the significant adverse health impacts of violence against women and children, the researchers also reported that they remain underrecognized worldwide. Sexual assault during childhood was reported in over 1 billion individuals aged 15 years and older in 2023, with 608 million of these individuals experiencing violence from an intimate partner.
“These findings fundamentally challenge the persistent view of SVAC and IPV as primarily social or criminal justice issues and underscore their status as major public health priorities,” said Luisa Sorio Flor, PhD, MSc, lead author and assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Assessing IPV and SVAC patterns
The study was conducted to determine patterns of IPV and SVAC and their attributable disease burdens.2 IPV was defined as at least 1 act of physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner in patients aged at least 15 years. SVAC was defined as unwanted intercourse or other sexual contact before the age of 18 years.
The Global Health Data Exchange, World Health Organization Global Database on the Prevalence of Violence Against Women, and the UN Women Global Database on Violence Against Women were assessed for IPV and SVAC data. These databases collected information through targeted and systematic search strategies.
Population-based studies measuring self-reported instances of violence between 1980 and 2023 were eligible for inclusion. Strategies from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) were used to model IPV and SVAC.
Global prevalence of IPV and SVAC
Investigators also generated relative risk (RR) estimates for outcomes linked to IPV and SVAC exposure in previous GBD rounds. All results were age-standardized using GBD standard populations.
There were 608 million female individuals aged at least 15 years reporting IPV in 2023, alongside 1.01 billion male and female patients aged at least 15 years reporting sexual violence during childhood. Countries within the sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania regions reported the greatest prevalence of IPV.
Overall, IPV had an age-standardized prevalence ranging from 3.1% to 53.9%, with a rate greater than 20% in 77 countries. The South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions had the greatest rates of SVAC in female patients, with an age-standardized prevalence ranging from 7% to 42%. Fifty-four countries reported a rate over 20%.
Expanded health outcomes
Investigators identified 12 outcomes linked to SVAC that were not included in prior GBD iterations. These included HIV/AIDS, self-harm, abortion and miscarriage, type 2 diabetes, anxiety disorders, drug use disorders, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder, bulimia nervosa, asthma, schizophrenia, and other sexually transmitted infections.
IPVs were linked to 145,000 deaths and 18.5 million disability-adjusted life-years in 2023. For SVAC, these figures were 290,000 and 32.2 million, respectively. Overall, these results highlighted significant global health burdens from both IPV and SVAC.
“The findings presented in this study serve as an urgent call to action to combat IPV and SVAC as avoidable risks for global disability and premature mortality,” wrote investigators.
References
- Violence against women and children among top health threats: New global study reveals disease burden far larger than previously estimated. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. December 9, 2025. Accessed December 22, 2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108985
- GBD 2023 Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence against Children Collaborators. Disease burden attributable to intimate partner violence against females and sexual violence against children in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023. The Lancet. 2025. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02503-6
