Domestic Violence: Did You know

Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.

An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.

85% of domestic violence victims are women.

Violence Begins at Home; Effects of Domestic Violence on Children

• Witnessing violence between one’s parents or caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next.
• Boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.
• 30% to 60% of perpetrators of intimate partner violence also abuse children in the household.

Costs of Domestic Violence

• The cost of intimate partner violence exceeds $5.8 billion each year, $4.1 billion of which is for direct medical and mental health services.
• Victims of intimate partner violence lost almost 8 million days of paid work because of the violence perpetrated against them by current or former husbands, boyfriends and dates. This loss is the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs and almost 5.6 million days of household productivity as a result of violence.
• There are 16,800 homicides and $2.2 million (medically treated) injuries due to intimate partner violence annually, which costs $37 billion.

Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking

• One in 6 women and 1 in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.
• Nearly 7.8 million women have been raped by an intimate partner at some point in their lives.
• Sexual assault or forced sex occurs in approximately 40-45% of battering relationships.
• 1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men have been stalked in their lifetime.
• 81% of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner are also physically assaulted by that partner; 31% are also sexually assaulted by that partner.

*All statistics from National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, www.ncadv.org