Number of women killed by partner or ex unchanged in 15 years

© Hollandse Hoogte
An average of 22 women were killed each year by their partner or ex-partner between 2020 and 2024 (including cases where a partner or ex-partner was the perpetrator or presumed perpetrator). This picture has not changed over the past fifteen years. The number of women killed by other perpetrators has fallen. Murder or manslaughter by a partner or ex-partner are most common among divorced women. The figure for the Netherlands is in the middle range compared to other European countries. This is according to research from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Over the past five years, an average of 43 women a year were victims of murder or manslaughter in the Netherlands. That means one woman was murdered every eight days. In about half of these cases, the partner or ex-partner was the perpetrator or presumed perpetrator.

Since 2010, an average of 2.7 in every 1 million women per year have been killed by a partner or ex-partner. The number of women killed by another or unknown perpetrator fell from 3 per 1 million women between 2010 and 2014 to just over 2 per million in the following years.

Femicide by a partner more common among divorced women

Of the women killed by a partner or ex-partner over the past 15 years, 38 percent were married and 37 percent were unmarried at the time of their death, while 19 percent were divorced and 7 percent were widowed. The victim's marital status is not necessarily related to the relationship between victim and offender. For example, a victim may have been widowed and then entered into a relationship that was not officially registered.

In relative terms, divorced women are at the highest risk of becoming victims of intimate partner femicide, with 5.6 victims per million women. Among married women, this is 2.5 per million. Unmarried women and widows are at the lowest risk of being killed by an intimate partner or ex-partner at just over 2 per million.

Women aged between 20 and 40 are at the highest risk of becoming victims of femicide by a partner or ex

Partner femicide is the most common among women aged between 20 and 40. Over the past 15 years, an average of 4.5 per million women in this age group were killed by their partner or ex-partner. Among women aged between 40 and 60, this was 3.5 per million.

The share was lower among women aged 60 or older. It was lowest among the youngest age group, at 0.4 per million women up to the age of 20. There were 11 victims among women aged under 20.

Finland and Lithuania have the highest numbers of partner femicides

The number of women killed by their partner or ex-partner in the Netherlands is in the middle range compared to other European countries in the period 2017-2023. Slovakia reported the lowest numbers, while Finland and Lithuania reported the highest numbers of females killed.

Many countries have no (reliable) figures on this subject, for example, because there is no data available on the perpetrators. The figures available should be analysed carefully, because record-keeping and definitions may vary from one country to another. For example, not all countries include manslaughter in their figures.

Sources

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