Who is Affected by Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence affects individuals regardless of age, race, identity or culture. While statistics may prove some things over others, our goal is never to meet or push any predetermined or hidden agendas. Here at Shine the Light Collective we offer objective information that is aimed at fostering a deeper understanding of issues.

In the United States

• Nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men.

• 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of [some form of] physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime.

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

• 1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.

• On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.

• Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime.

• Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner.

• 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States has been raped in their lifetime.

• Almost half of female (46.7%) and male (44.9%) victims of rape in the United States were raped by an acquaintance. Of these, 45.4% of female rape victims and 29% of male rape victims were raped by an intimate partner.

• 19.3 million women and 5.1 million men in the United States have been stalked in their lifetime.1 60.8% of female stalking victims and 43.5% men reported being stalked by a current or former intimate partner.

• A study of intimate partner homicides found that 20% of victims were not the intimate partners themselves, but family members, friends, neighbors, persons who intervened, law enforcement responders, or bystanders.

• 72% of all murder-suicides involve an intimate partner; 94% of the victims of these murder suicides are female.

Around the World

• 1 in 3 (35%) women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is intimate partner violence.

• Worldwide, almost one third (30%) of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner in their lifetime.

• Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by a male intimate partner.

• Men are more likely to perpetrate violence if they have low education, a history of child maltreatment, exposure to domestic violence against their mothers, harmful use of alcohol, unequal gender norms including attitudes accepting of violence, and a sense of entitlement over women.

• Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse during childhood, and attitudes accepting violence, male privilege, and women’s subordinate status.

Huge thanks to our colleagues at The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and The World Health Organization for sharing the statistics listed above.