For millions of adolescent girls around the world, violence is shaping their health, education, safety and future opportunities.
In 2023, nearly 30% of adolescent girls aged 15–19 years have experienced intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their lives. This is about 43 million girls worldwide.
A new technical brief summarizes the latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), HRP (the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction) and UN partners.
Looking at the numbers in more detail, it is estimated that 23% of adolescent girls aged 15–19 years who have ever had a partner have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner at least once in their lives. For many, intimate partner violence is recent. An estimated 16% have experienced this type of violence in the past year.
The analysis also highlights the scale of sexual violence perpetrated by someone other than a partner: 8% of all girls aged 15–19 years have experienced non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. These estimates most likely represent only part of the picture, as many girls never disclose or report their experiences of violence.
Violence can have immediate and lifelong effects on girls. It is associated with injuries, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. Experiencing violence can disrupt education, affect current and future employment opportunities and relationships.
“These estimates show that violence is impacting girls at a formative stage of their lives. Preventing violence means addressing the inequalities that put girls at risk, while making sure those who experience violence can access safe, appropriate support and services including sexual and reproductive health care,” said Dr LynnMarie Sardinha, Technical Officer leading on Violence Against Women Data and Measurement at WHO and HRP.
Violence against adolescent girls is shaped by factors at the individual, relationship, community and societal levels, including gender inequality and discriminatory social norms. Research highlighted in the brief shows that countries with higher rates of child marriage, lower educational attainment among girls and discriminatory property and inheritance laws tend to have higher levels of intimate partner violence.
A service provider in Bangladesh described in the Violence Against Women Survey 2024 conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics how early marriage can increase girls' vulnerability:
"Girls as young as 12 or 13 are married off and expected to manage the household, take care of in-laws and meet their husband's demands … and when they struggle, violence often starts."
The findings underscore the need for stronger action across multiple sectors. The brief calls for measures that promote gender equality, expand girls' access to secondary education, end child marriage, strengthen legal protections, improve support services and strengthen investment in better data collection. Health systems play an important role by ensuring the availability of adolescent- responsive, survivor-centred care for girls affected by violence, including sexual and reproductive health and mental health care.
No country is currently on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by 2030 and adolescent girls face this reality in their day to day – in their home, in schools and on the street. The evidence is clear, and as the interagency RESPECT Women framework shows there are promising approaches to prevent violence and better support survivors.
The challenge is to ensure that swift action is taken for these approaches to reach the girls whose lives depend on them.