Data and statistics in Italy

1. Prevalence data and victim surveys
2. Costs of domestic violence
3. Age distribution of domestic violence
4. Number of deaths

1. Prevalence data and victim surveys

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), domestic violence is a widespread phenomenon involving all forms of abuse and coercive behaviours exercised to emotionally control a person who is part of the household. The definition of domestic violence includes all actions and behaviours aimed at asserting power and control over the other person, their actions and thinking. Thus, it is not limited only to physical abuse but can also be verbal, emotional, psychological, financial, and sexual.  Domestic violence is mainly acted out by men against women and occurs within the domestic walls, between spouses or cohabitants, that is, in the environment that should be considered the safest. La violenza domestica: definizione, forme e conseguenze (nonsolopedagogia.it).

In Italy, the acronym ISTAT is used to refer to the National Institute of Statistics, which is the Italian public research organization responsible for censuses and social and economic surveys. According to data from the sample survey, carried out in 2015 in Italy (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne) and covering about 25,000 interviews with women between 16 and 79 years old, violence affects 1 in 3 women (31.5 percent: 6 million 788 thousand women). And because abuse is often repeated, the estimate of incidents of violence in Italy is about 14 million in a year (I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere).

The Italian Newspaper “Il Sole 24 ore” (08/1/2020) states that gender-based violence against women takes on different profiles, various misogynistic conduct, such as mistreatment, physical, psychological, sexual, educational, labor, economic, property, family and community violence. La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE.

Violence during pregnancy is 11.8%. For women who experienced violence during pregnancy in just under 1 in 4 cases (23.9%) violence decreased, while for 11.3% of women it increased and for 5.7% it started (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne.).

Table 1 shows the most frequent types of violence to which women in Italy in the 2015 have been subjected (I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere).

Table 1. Most frequent types of violence in Italy (10 thousand women).

Physical and sexual violence

As can be seen from the ISTAT data (2015 Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne), women in Italy have experienced mostly one form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime: 21% (4 million 520 thousand) have experienced sexual violence, 20.2% (4 million 353 thousand) physical violence. 5.4% (1 million 157 thousand) experienced the most serious forms of sexual violence, such as rape (652 thousand) and attempted rape (746 thousand).

At the level of physical violence, women experience threats (12.3%), are pushed or shoved (11.5%), and are subjected to slapping, kicking, punching and biting (7.3%). Other times they are hit with painful objects (6.1%). Less frequent are more serious forms such as attempted strangulation, burns, suffocation, and the threat or use of weapons.

About sexual violence, the most prevalent forms of sexual violence are physical harassment, that is, being touched or hugged or kissed against one’s will (15.6 percent), unwanted relationships experienced as violence (4.7 percent), rape (3 percent) and attempted rape (3.5 percent).

For 3 million women in Italy, or 13.6% of Italian women, physical or sexual violence is perpetrated by their current partner (5.2%, or 855,000) or ex-partner (18.9%, or 2 million 44,000).

24.7% of women have also experienced at least one physical or sexual violence by a non-partner: 13.2% by strangers and 13% by people they know instead. Specifically, 6.3% from acquaintances, 3% from friends, 2.6% from relatives, and 2.5% from co-workers.

The most serious forms of violence are carried out by partners, relatives, or friends. In fact, 62.7 percent of rapes are committed by a current or ex-partner, while in 3.6 percent by relatives and 9.4 percent by friends. This violence takes place predominantly in the victim’s home (58.7%).

Physical violence (such as slapping, kicking, punching, and biting) is also mostly the work of partners or ex-partners. ISTAT 2015, (2015 Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne) show that more than one in three women victims of partner violence have suffered wounds, bruises, contusions or other injuries (37.6 percent).

In most cases these are bruises, but about 20 percent have been hospitalized because of their injuries, and in almost a quarter of cases they result in serious injuries, requiring medical attention. More than one-fifth of those hospitalized had permanent damage.

Among the foreign women who were victims of partner violence the injuries reach 44.5 percent of the cases. Most women who had a violent partner in the past left him precisely because of the violence they experienced (68.6%). Specifically, for 41.7 percent it was the main cause for breaking off the relationship, and for 26.8 percent it was an important part of the decision.

Foreign women (Table 2¸Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne) have experienced physical or sexual violence to a similar extent as Italian women during their lifetime (31.3 percent and 31.5 percent). Physical violence is more common among foreigners (25.7 percent vs. 19.6 percent), while sexual violence more among Italians (21.5 percent vs. 16.2 percent). However, foreign women are much more prone to rape and attempted rape (7.7% vs. 5.1%). Moldovan (37.3%), Romanian (33.9%) and Ukrainian (33.2%) are the foreign women who experience the most violence.

Foreign women, in contrast to Italian women, mostly experience violence (physical or sexual) from partners or ex-partners (20.4% vs. 12.9%) and less from other men (18.2% vs. 25.3%). Foreign women who have experienced violence from a former partner are 27.9%, but for 46.6% of these, the relationship ended before their arrival in Italy.

Table 2. Women aged 16 to 70 who have experienced physical or sexual violence by a man in their lifetime by type of perpetrator, type of violence experienced, and citizenship. Year 2014 (per 100 women with the same characteristics).

Type of violence	Current or ex-partner (a)			Not partner (b)			Total (b)
	Italians	Foreigners	Total	Italians	Foreigners	Total	Italians	Foreigners	Total
Physical or sexual violence	12,9	20,4	13,6	25,3	18,2	24,7	31,5	31,3	31,5
Physical violence	11,0	18,2	11,6	12,3	12,6	12,4	19,6	25,7	20,2
Sexual violence	5,5	9,1	5,8	18,3	9,7	17,5	21,5	16,2	21,0
Rape or attempted rape	2,2	4,2	2,4	3,3	4,6	3,4	5,1	7,7	5,4
Rape	1,8	3,8	2,0	1,1	2,0	1,2	2,8	5,3	3,0
Attempted rape	1,0	2,1	1,1	2,5	2,9	2,5	3,3	4,6	3,5
(a) per 100 women with current or former partner
(b) per 100 women aged 16 to 70 years.

Comparing the two most recent ISTAT surveys, it appears that in 2014 physical and sexual violence by current and former partners decreases, and sexual violence (particularly sexual harassment, from 6.5 percent to 4.3 percent) perpetrated by men other than partners also decreases. However, there is no change in the data on violence in its most serious forms (rape and attempted rape) as well as physical violence by non-partners, while the severity of violence experienced increases.

Chart 1 identifies the various forms of physical and sexual violence, in the two most recent ISTAT surveys (2006-2014).

Chart 1. Women aged 16 to 70 who have experienced physical or sexual violence by a man and type of violence experienced. Year 2006 and 2014 (per 100 women)

STAT_TODAY_Stereotypes (istat.it) states that in the 2023 the l 48.7% of respondents still have at least one stereotype about sexual violence. 39.3% of men think that a woman can evade sexual intercourse if she really does not want to, and nearly 20% think that violence is caused by the way women dress.

Psychological and economic violence

In Italy, in addition to physical or sexual violence, women with partners also experience psychological and economic violence, i.e., behaviours of humiliation, devaluation, control and intimidation, and deprivation or limitation in access to their economic or family assets. Thus, psychological violence includes blackmail, passive-aggressive behaviour, gaslighting, threatening, moral violence, social violence (bullying, mobbing), and emotional and psychological abuse.

Economic violence, on the other hand, is violence includes “acts of controlling and monitoring a woman’s behaviour in terms of the use and distribution of money, with the constant threat of withholding economic resources, or through debt exposure, or even preventing her from” Violenza economica | Cos’è, quanto è diffusa e come contrastarla (lenius.it). Economic violence is a less obvious form of abuse than physical or verbal abuse, but just as devastating. It prevents the victim from having financial independence, creating a cycle of dependence and vulnerability. Cos’è la violenza economica sulle donne (laleggepertutti.it)

In 2014, 26.4 percent of women in Italy suffered psychological or economic violence from their partners and 46.1 percent from an ex-partner (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne.)

Fortunately, psychological violence is decreasing compared to the previous Istat survey (from 2006): violence committed by the current partner decreases from 42.3% to 26.4%. The incidence of less serious violence, that is, not accompanied by physical and sexual violence, also decreases (from 35.9% to 22.4%).

Chart 2 illustrates psychological and economic violence in the two most recent surveys ISTAT (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne), from which it can be seen that psychological violence is in sharp decline compared to 2006; that committed by the current partner decreases from 42.3% to 26.4%. The incidence especially of violence that is less serious, that is, not accompanied by physical and sexual violence, decreases (from 35.9% to 22.4%). In 2014, the most serious psychological violence (threats and being locked in the house or being followed) affected 1.2% of women in couples, a total of 200,000 women, while children were the object of threats and retaliation for about 50,000 women (0.3%).

Chart 2. Women aged 16 to 70 who have experienced psychological and economic violence by a man and type of violence experienced. Year 2006 and 2014 (per 100 women)

Provisional ISTAT data (May July 2023) show less tolerance of physical violence in couples. However, 10.2 percent of respondents, mostly young people, say they still accept the man’s control over their wife/partner’s communication (cell phone and social). STAT_TODAY_Stereotipi (istat.it).

Stalking

In Italy, the 2015 Istat survey (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne.) states that women who have experienced stalking (persecutory acts with a frequency of more than three episodes for at least one type of persecutory act by any perpetrator), are about 3 million 500 thousand, or 16.1% of women.

Of these more than 1 million 500 thousand have suffered it from their ex-partner. It is estimated that 21.5% of women between the ages of 16 and 70 (or 2 million 151 thousand) have experienced persecutory behaviour by an ex-partner within their lifetime. When considering women who have experienced stalking acts several times these are 15.3 percent. Stalking was also suffered by other stalkers in 10.3% of cases for a total of about 2 million 229 thousand women. In fact, during the year alone relating to the 12 months before the survey (Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne.), there were 147 thousand victims of stalking by ex-partners, accounting for 1.5% of women (11.4% in the case of women who broke up with their ex-partner in the last 12 months).

There are 478 thousand (2.2%) who report being stalked by others. In cases of perpetrators other than an ex-partner, women were stalked by acquaintances (in 4.2% of cases), strangers (3.8%), friends or schoolmates (1.3%), colleagues or employers (1.1%), by relatives, and by partners with whom the woman was in a relationship at the time of the interview (both in 0.2% of cases). Stalking perpetrators were male in 85.9% of cases compared to 14.1% females.

Seventy-eight percent of victims did not turn to any institution or seek help from specialized services; only 15 percent turned to law enforcement, 4.5 percent to a lawyer, and 1.5 percent sought help from an anti-violence or anti-stalking service or centre.

Among them, only 48.3 percent of women who turned to institutions or specialized services later reported or filed a complaint, 9.2 percent made a complaint, 5.3 percent sought a warning, and 3.3 percent filed a civil suit, while 40.4 percent who did not did anything. Among victims who did not turn to institutions or specialized services, one in two said they did not do so because they handled the situation on their own. Table 3 shows the 2015 ISTAT data on stalking. 

Table 3.  Women aged 16 to 70 years who have been stalked in their lifetime by an ex-partner or other person. Year 2014 (per 100 women)

	Absolute values. (in thousands)	per 100 women
Women who reported at least one form of stalking by an ex-partner (a)	2,151	21,5
Women who have repeatedly experienced at least one form of stalking from a former partner (a)	1,525	15,3
Women who have repeatedly experienced at least 3 forms of stalking from a former partner (a)	991	9,9
Women who have repeatedly experienced at least one form of stalking from other men	2,229	10,3
Total women who have experienced stalking	3,466	16,1
(a) per 100 women who have an ex-partner.

Hospitalizations and call for help

Since 2020, a year in which gender-based violence has grown exponentially due in part to forced cohabitation due to lockdowns, ISTAT conducts the Statistical Survey of Anti-Violence Centre Users, in collaboration with the Department of Equal Opportunity at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Regions. (Violenza di genere: quali sono i reati più diffusi (laleggepertutti.it)).

According to the survey, among women who are facing the path out of violence, 95.2 percent have experienced at least one violence including: threats, stalking, psychological and economic violence, 66.6 percent have experienced physical violence and 19.8 percent sexual violence, which are associated with psychological violence in 90.5 percent of cases. Few women (2%) have experienced violence under the Istanbul Convention, such as forced or early marriage, female genital mutilation, forced abortion, forced sterilization, which are not as widespread practices in Italy as in other countries.

As known, therefore, Covid-19 generated a further worsening of the phenomenon. According to ISTAT Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne. In In 2021, there were 1083 women hospitalized because of violence, for a total of 1171 admissions in the year.

In 2021, there were 4.4 ED accesses of women with an indication of violence per 10,000 residents. Women aged 18-34 were the most affected (8.8 per 10,000), followed by women aged 35-49 (7.2 per 10,000). Rates of access to the ED of foreign women with an indication of violence are three times higher those of Italian women.

After a significant decrease in these hospitalizations in 2020 for the COVID Pandemic (29.9% compared to 2019), due to the high difficulty in accessing hospital the recovery in 2021 was larger than in total ordinary hospitalizations (+12.4% vs. +5.6% in 2020). Hospitalization rates of women with an indication of violence are highest for underage women, are close to the average for adult women aged 35-49, and lowest after age 50.

Women with hospitalizations for violence more often have repeat hospitalizations. Considering the five-year period 2017- 2021, there were 6211 women with at least one hospitalization with an indication of violence, for a total of 8645 total hospitalizations.

In the five-year period 2017-2021, for both ED admissions and hospitalizations, the diagnoses most frequently associated with violence are related to trauma (fractures, wounds, bruises, burns), poisoning, and mental disorders (predominant emotional disturbances, some adjustment disorders and reactions, cannabinoid abuse, drug abuse without addiction, anxiety disorders, dissociative and somatoform disorders).

In the period between March and October 2020, calls to the Italian anti-violence number 1522 increased by 71.7 percent compared to the same period last year. Il numero di pubblica utilità 1522 durante la pandemia (periodo marzo-ottobre 2020) (istat.it) Among the reasons for contacting the hotline, calls for “requests for help from victims of violence” and “reports for cases of violence” doubled (Istat, 2020). In the reporting period, compared to the same period in the previous year, calls grew by 107%. Calls for information about Anti-Violence Centres also grew (+65.7%). The number of valid calls continued to increase in the first quarter of 2021. In the same quarter, calls for “reports for cases of violence” increased by 109 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

It is also important to point out that in the same period under consideration people who called 1522 for the first time were 84.8%, of which 88.1% were direct victims of violence Violenza sulle donne, Istat: nel 2021 in aumento le chiamate al 1522 (difesapopolo.it).

However, the phenomenon of violence is still largely undeclared: there is still a high proportion of women who do not talk about the violence they have experienced (28.1 percent in cases of partner violence, 25.5 percent for non-partner violence) and of those who do not report it (only 12.2 percent of women report violence experienced by partners, 6 percent by non-partners). Also worrisome is the fact that only 35.4 percent of women who have experienced physical or sexual violence from their partners believe that they were victims of a crime; 44 percent claim that it was something wrong, but do not consider it a crime; while 19.4 percent consider the violence they experienced only as something that happened.

The survey also highlights how forms of violence that are socially considered “more serious”, such as physical or sexual violence, tend to be considered as a crime to a greater extent than other forms of violence, and are also more often reported. In this sense, it is important to raise women’s awareness of what they have suffered and the different forms that violence can take (La-cultura-della-violenza_2.pdf (exactdn.com).

About age, women between 30 and 39 years old experienced mostly physical violence (71.4%). Sexual violence affects more women under 16 years old (53.4 percent) and those 16 to 29 years old (33.7 percent).  Women aged 30 and older are those who have experienced at least one form of violence such as threats, stalking, psychological or economic violence). In most cases, the different forms of violence add up to each other: 16% of women have experienced only one type of violence, 27% have experienced two types of violence, 27% three. 30%, of women have experienced more than 4 types of violence among those investigated. The duration of violence varies depending on the type of violence experienced. A longer history of abuse, which lasts at least 5 years, affects 75% of women who have experienced physical violence and almost all of those who have experienced at least one threat, stalking, physical or psychological violence. Differently, among women who start the pathway following a single incident of violence, the most represented form of violence is sexual (78.2%) versus, for example, 30% of physical one (Violenza di genere: quali sono i reati più diffusi (laleggepertutti.it).

Sources:

La violenza domestica: definizione, forme e conseguenze (nonsolopedagogia.it)

Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne

I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere.

Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne

La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE.

Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne.

STAT_TODAY_Stereotypes (istat.it)

Violenza economica | Cos’è, quanto è diffusa e come contrastarla (lenius.it)

Cos’è la violenza economica sulle donne (laleggepertutti.it)

Violenza di genere: quali sono i reati più diffusi (laleggepertutti.it)

Il numero di pubblica utilità 1522 durante la pandemia (periodo marzo-ottobre 2020) (istat.it)

Violenza sulle donne, Istat: nel 2021 in aumento le chiamate al 1522 (difesapopolo.it).La-cultura-della-violenza_2.pdf (exactdn.com)

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2. Costs of domestic violence

Costs of domestic violence are quite high in Italy: both monetary and non-monetary.

According to the source Quali sono i costi della violenza sulle donne? – Diversity Management (diversity-management.it) monetary costs are both direct costs of the system and also so-called economic multipliers. The latter are, for example, those related to social security institutions: health care costs, missed days of work, missed or decreased job performance, and productivity impacts.

Non-monetary costs, on the other hand, are based on suffering; even with the difficulty of quantification, the relative social multipliers on quality of life, intra- and extra-family relationships, and, in particular, the costs of violence against children, which are actually not fully quantifiable, but only estimable, have been considered (https://www.weworld.it/pubblicazioni/2013/QuantoCostaIlSilenzio_SHORT/files/assets/common/downloads/publication.pdf). As The Newspaper Il Sole 24 ore (08/1/2020) states: “We are unable to understand what is stirring in the darkness that has fallen after the killing or violence perpetrated on a woman. We are used to considering it a statistic. Behind that woman victim of human insanity, there are families, children or young people, who will have not only emotional difficulties but also material difficulties and alas, as crude as it sounds, economic costs of living” La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE.

Femicide and violence are also associated with the loss of human capital, a monetary and psychological, emotional cost for the victim’s children, relatives and friends, as well as an investigative, judicial, health and prison cost for the perpetrator of violence.

For ISTAT, the cost of domestic violence, estimated by default in 2013 is 16.7 billion euros per year. Thus, the costs of violence represent about 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. By contrast, for prevention and law enforcement interventions, spending is only 6.3 million euros.

The research by Vingelli, Badalassi, Franca et al. (2013) named “How much does silence cost” estimates over the course of a year, 14.2 million incidents of violence. From what it turns out, the cost burdening victims and society as a whole is 17 billion a year, three times the what traffic accidents cost. It is composed of various items: legal, public policy, pharmacological, medical, and social support. These are the principal costs for women, families, and children, to which are then added the so-called indirect costs of non-participation in democratic life and working life.

The study by Vingelli et al. (2013) shows the following cost composition (as a percentage of the total of more than 16 billion):

(a) Direct costs: 14.22 % in turn broken down into: lost productivity 3.6 % (both at the enterprise level and in revenue for the state); health care costs 2.75 %; judicial costs 2.5 %; legal costs 1.7 %; public order 1.4 %; psychological counselling 0.9 %; common social services 0.9 %; drugs 0.27 %; anti-violence centres 0.05 %.

(b) For non-monetary indirect costs (from the simulation of compensation, physical, moral and biological damages) the sum is 85.78 %.

The Italian study shows a variety of forms of violence depending on whether it is domestic or non-domestic violence, whether it is physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence. The woman’s income appears to be an important element in estimating the likelihood of experiencing violence: if the woman earns less than her husband, psychological violence increases; if she earns more, sexual violence increases. 

La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE

Chart 1 illustrates the costs of violence (monetary and nonmonetary) In Italy.

Chart 1. Costs of violence in Italy

It is more than 6 million euros that Italy invests on law enforcement actions, which includes everything from prevention to cultural and awareness-raising initiatives. A meagre amount in the face of 17 billion euros in costs related to violence (I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere). 

The same source says that for direct monetary costs alone, 1.8 billion a year is spent, including health care (460.4million), psychological counselling (158.7million), drugs (44.5million), law and order costs (235.7million) and judicial order (421.3million), legal fees (289.9million), social services of municipalities (154.6million) and anti-violence centres (7.8million).

These are “financial and immediate costs to the system” that the state and the community have to bear: from health care precisely to law enforcement investigations to the need to set up social services and shelter facilities. In addition to the direct costs, there are also 604million in “economic multiplier effects,” i.e., economic loss to companies due to lost productivity and replacements, with an estimated 1.1million work days lost due to violence.

Those who experience violence also tend to become uncompetitive in the labour market, due to relationship difficulties, absenteeism, and states of fear and anxiety generated in victims, often resulting in job loss and a lower propensity to seek employment for women who are not working. These costs are passed on to companies, but also to welfare institutions, or in terms of lost tax revenue for the state.

The last item to add to the costs generated by violence against women is in terms of human and suffering, and it stands at 14.3million euros. These cost categories attempt to quantify the loss of human, social and economic potential due to suffering. That is, it is an estimate that quantifies, physical, moral and psychological damage.

The 2015 ISTAT data, Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne  reports physical, moral and biological costs among women who have experienced partner violence; more than half suffer from loss of confidence and self-esteem (52.75%). In addition, the following disorders are also reported: phobia and panic attacks (46.8%), hopelessness and feeling of helplessness (46.4%), sleep and eating disorders (46.3%), depression (40.3%), difficulty concentrating and memory loss (24.9%), recurrent pain in the body (21.8%), difficulty managing children (14.8), and self-harm or suicidal ideas (12.1%).

Chart 2 illustrates the consequences of violence on women, divided between Italian and Foreign women.

Chart 2. Women aged 16 to 70 who have experienced violence in Italy by change of habits after the fact and citizenship. Year 2014 (per 100 victims of the same citizenship)

Many are the women who say they have moved on from the incident, 49.2 percent, a rising percentage among women who have experienced harassment 57.8 percent, while it is 34.1 percent in the case of the woman recounting more serious sexual violence. Many find greater relational difficulty, fear of isolated places and darkness, loss of trust in men, as well as depression, anxiety, or shock. Of note, however, a residual 4.2% report feeling stronger/aggressive.

About 5% of women had to be absent from work, and a similar proportion were unable to perform daily caregiving tasks. Many women also felt afraid for their own lives (in 36.1 percent of cases, with a gap between Italian and foreign women of about 10 percentage points to the detriment of foreign women) and those of their children.

One element, however, emerges very clearly: all studies represent underestimates of the costs of violence, as they cannot consider unreported and unreported cases. Omertà or reticence is still very strong. From the source I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere it is inferred that each year, there are 52 thousand women victims of violence who filed a complaint (including stalking crimes), of which 7 thousand were victims of stalking between August 2012 and July 2013. While the number of women who experience violence each year is 1million and 150 thousand women.

As states the Newspaper Il Sole 24 ore (1/8/2019) La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE a fund for victims of feminicide was also established.  The Ministry of Economy and Finance has thus released 12 million euros to finance: scholarships, medical expenses, training and job placement. This is the Revolving Fund for Solidarity with Victims of Mafia Crimes and Intentional Crimes. The great innovation is that everyone will be able to access the funds, and this will not depend on the degree of judgment still pending. In 2018, 6.5 million euros were allocated, in 2019 about 12.4 million euros were allocated and in 2020 14.5 million euros were allocated.

In Italy, the EIGE study (The costs of gender-based violence in the European Union (europa.eu)) estimated for 2021 that gender-based violence costs a total of 49.1 Billion Euros, of which 38.8 related to women. Domestic violence against women alone was estimated at 20.3 Billion Euros, a figure comparable to WeWorld’s 2013 survey (Quanto costa il silenzio? | Pubblicazioni – WeWorld) on the economic and social cost of violence against women, which, at the time, instead estimated the cost in Italy of violence against women alone at 17 Billion Euros. In this case, the total direct economic and social cost of violence against women was estimated to be at least 2.37 billion euros and includes direct costs (1.8 billion euros) and economic multiplier effects from lost productivity (604 million euros). In contrast, the cost resulting from the human emotional and existential damages of violence against women has been estimated at 14.3 billion Euro.

Recently, the Newspaper Il Sole 24 ore (26/09/2023) Violenza di genere, nuove norme ma mancano forze e formazione – Il Sole 24 ORE states that it debuts Law 122/2023, which, in a single article, amends the “Code Red” law (69/2019) to take action on violations of hearing the offended person (or whistle-blower) within three days of the crime being reported. Under the new law, the Prosecutor of the Republic can revoke the assignment of proceedings to the magistrate who does not do the hearing on time. A circumscribed measure, but other broader innovations are contained in the bill approved by the Council of Ministers, which is now being examined by the House Justice Committee: they range from strengthening the warning to enhancing preventive and precautionary measures, with a reduction in the time of proceedings.

Sources:

Quali sono i costi della violenza sulle donne? – Diversity Management (diversity-management.it)

https://www.weworld.it/pubblicazioni/2013/QuantoCostaIlSilenzio_SHORT/files/assets/common/downloads/publication.pdf

La violenza sulle donne ha un altissimo costo sociale: 16 miliardi l’anno – ilSole24ORE.

Vingelli, Giovanna, Badalassi, Giovanna, Garreffa, Franca et al. Quanto costa il silenzio? Indagine nazionale sui costi economici e sociali della violenza contro le donne. Grafica Aelle snc, 2013.

I costi tragici della violenza sulle donne | inGenere

Istat.it – Violenza sulle donne

The costs of gender-based violence in the European Union (europa.eu)

Quanto costa il silenzio? | Pubblicazioni – WeWorldViolenza di genere, nuove norme ma mancano forze e formazione – Il Sole 24 ORE

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3. Age distribution of domestic violence

In March 2022, the 53rd session of the Statistical Commission approved the ‘Statistical framework for measuring the gender-related killing of women and girls (also referred to as ‘femicide/feminicide’). In this framework, gender-related murders, commonly referred to as femicides, are defined as those involving the killing of a woman as a woman.

The variables needed to identify a feminicide are many and concern both the victim, the perpetrator and the context of the violence. To summarise from a statistical point of view three types of gender-related killing are included in the definition: murders of women by a partner; murders of women’s by another relative; murders of women by another person, whether known or unknown, but occurring through a modus operandi or in a context related to gender motivation.

Data in the following figure are those collected by the Bologna Women’s House, which publishes an annual report based on press data on femicides throughout the country.

https://femicidiocasadonne.wordpress.com/

According to the figure, the highest peak in the age of the victims is between 46 – 60 years old equal to over 40 %, while between 36-45 years old it is almost 30 %.

It is also significant to note which weapons were used to commit the crime: there is a clear predominance of blunt weapons with 40%, more distant are firearms (22%) or strangling just below 20% while improper weapons or bludgeoning are at around 10%.

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4. Number of deaths

In the figure above, it can be seen that the number of deaths fell slightly in the period from 2013 to 2019 and then rose dramatically in the following years until 2022, when 113 women died.

Most of the femicides were carried out by the woman’s current partner 46%, ex-partner 12.4%, son 15.9%, acquaintance/friend 7.1%, other relative 5.3%, father 2.7%, while a small percentage concerned clients or other unidentified persons.

The place where femicides most often occur is the couple’s home 54.9 per cent, while in 22.1 per cent of cases they occur in her home. Other places mentioned are a smaller percentage.

More up-to-date data, but only concerning the number of deaths, can be found on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, General Directorate of the Criminal Police, where data are given as of 27 November 2023 on voluntary homicides with a focus on those of women.

During the period 1st January – 26th November 2023, 298 homicides were recorded, with 107 female victims, of whom 88 were killed in a family/affectionate environment; of these, 56 met their death by their partner/ex-partner.

Analysing the homicides in the above-mentioned period compared to the same period last year, there was an increase in the number of events, from 294 to 298 (+1%), while the number of female victims decreased from 112 to 107 (-4%). The full data can be found at the following link: https://www.interno.gov.it/sites/default/files/2023-11/report_settimanale_al_26_novembre_2023.pdf.