New findings from the EU gender-based violence survey reveal a stark reality – violence against women is widespread, increasingly digital and overlooked by the institutions meant to address and prevent it. Intimate partner violence, psychological abuse, economic violence and cyber violence are among the most widespread forms but often the least recognised.
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The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) urge the Union to align law, policy and practice with women’s experiences. The scale of unreported violence shows systems are not working adequately.
A decade after FRA published the EU’s first landmark study on violence against women, and in spite of significant advances in legislation and policy, violence against women in the EU remains pervasive.
The new report ‘EU gender-based violence survey - Evidence for policy and practice’ provides a deeper analysis of the results from the second EU-wide survey. One in three women in the EU experiences physical and/or sexual violence. Intimate partner violence, psychological abuse, economic violence and cyber violence are far too common - yet often the least recognised forms of abuse.
FRA Director Sirpa Rautio says:
Violence against women is a fundamental rights violation. Across the EU, women’s rights to dignity, safety and equality are still being violated at scale. When abuse is normalised, hidden or ignored, it reflects systemic failures to uphold rights. Member States have clear obligations to prevent violence, protect victims and ensure access to justice — and these findings show there is still urgent work to do.
Most violence is widely under-reported. Only 6.1% of women reported physical or sexual abuse by their partners to the police, and just 11.3% when attacked by non-partners. Shame, self‑blame, fear and a lack of trust in the police are the most often cited reasons for not reporting. Lack of awareness or access to support networks are contributing factors.
“If women cannot trust institutions to protect them, we must ask what needs to change – not what more women should do,” says EIGE Director Carlien Scheele. “These findings are a roadmap for governments: prevention, early intervention, specialised, gender-sensitive and victim-centred services must become standard, not optional.”
Some of the key findings from the report show that:
- Sexual violence and consent: Sexual violence is more often characterised by the absence of freely given consent, rather than by physical force. Women are almost twice as likely to be raped through coercion or inability to refuse, than through overt physical force.
- Economic and psychological intimate partner violence are common but less visible: 29.9% of women experienced psychological violence by their partner. This includes humiliation, jealousy, intimidation or controlling behaviours. For 12.7% it happens frequently. Where additional questions were asked, 20.3% of women have experienced economic violence by their partner, such as not being allowed to work and a lack of control over family finances.
- Intimate partner violence places a heavy toll on women’s lives: 9.8% were physically injured by their partner, and 9.6% suffered mentally. As a result, 17.6% of women needed time off work and 30.8% were unable to do housework due to partner violence. Women often resort to medication (25.8%) and alcohol or drugs (17.1%) to cope with the effects.
- Childhood violence and its lasting consequences: 32.9% of girls experienced physical or emotional violence at the hands of their parents. This can create a cycle of violence as women who experienced childhood sexual abuse are three to four times more likely to face sexual violence as adults.
- Digitalisation is intensifying abuse: 8.5% of women were cyberstalked and 7% of working women were harassed sexually online. 10.2% had their location monitored or tracked by their intimate partner.
To move from law to action, the EU has strengthened its legal framework, including the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence and EU-wide ratification of the Istanbul Convention. But laws alone are not enough.
The survey points to clear priorities:
- improve victim-sensitive and gender-responsive reporting systems;
- ensure access to holistic support including healthcare and specialised services;
- criminalise sexual violence based on lack of consent;
- extend legal protection to economic and psychological violence;
- strengthen responses to tech-facilitated abuse;
- and invest in early prevention, child protection and trauma-informed systems.
This report presents detailed findings from the EU gender-based violence survey results, complementing the 2024 key findings report on overall prevalence, partner and non-partner violence, and workplace harassment.
The survey was carried out jointly by Eurostat, FRA, and EIGE, based on over 114,000 interviews between September 2020 and March 2024.
For more, please contact:
European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)
georgie.bradley@eige.europa.eu
EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)