Description
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) works hard to improve the collection and comparability of data on intimate partner violence (IPV) and domestic violence across the EU.
This ongoing project started with the creation of key indicators to help police and justice sectors gather data. These indicators are important for assessing progress in reducing IPV and for making data more comparable across nations.
In 2023, EIGE started its second EU-wide data collection. This phase used improved indicators and offered detailed guidance to help countries gather data. Most of the data was broken down by sex, showing how many victims are women and the total number of victims. This helps highlight gender differences.
The country profiles were published in 2025 based on the latest data. These profiles include a report on the methods used and a policy brief on better data collection. There’s also a brief on femicide, stressing the need for sex-disaggregated data on violence against women. The in-depth analytical report was published in March 2026.
Previous cycles
In 2014, EIGE carried out the mapping of the current status and potential of administrative data sources on gender-based violence in the EU, with a focus on police and justice sector data.
In 2016 – 2017, the work on terminology and indicators for data collection on rape, femicide and intimate partner violence: EU-wide terminology and indicators was conducted. A set of 13 indicators to collect national administrative data on intimate partner violence, rape and femicide from the police and justice sectors in EU Member States was developed and a feasibility study was conducted.
In 2017 and 2018, EIGE built on its previous efforts to improve police and justice data on intimate partner violence against women in the European Union.
Between 2019 and 2020, EIGE assessed the progress made at national level in improving data availability to provide uniform data on intimate partner violence and enhance EU data comparability.
EIGE used the 13 indicators to carry out its first EU-wide data collection exercise on these forms of violence. Findings showed that intimate partner violence is not always visible in national administrative data. In many Member States, intimate partner violence is considered a form of domestic violence.
In 2021 – 2022, the 13 indicators were refined to collect data on intimate partner violence, domestic violence and violence that occurs in ‘any relationship’.
In 2023-2024, EIGE conducted its second EU-wide data collection. This phase used improved indicators and offered detailed guidance to help countries gather data. Most of the data was broken down by sex, showing how many victims are women and the total number of victims. Country-specific profiles were produced and the analytical report was published in March 2025.
