An estimated 45,000 women and girls were killed by a family member last year, the United Nations has revealed.
That's more than five women and girls killed every hour by a family member in 2021.
A report from the UN, published on Wednesday, showed that 45,000 women and girls – more than half of the 81,100 murdered last year worldwide – were killed by their husband, partner or other relative.
UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said the figures were “alarmingly high”.
45,000 women & girls killed by family member last year - UN
But the true number of femicides – where women are killed because of their gender – is likely to be much higher.
Roughly four in 10 deaths in 2021 were not counted as femicides because there wasn't enough data.
Official figures on femicide have remained largely unchanged over the past decade.
Covid spike
Last year, the highest number of femicides at the hands of relatives was in Asia, with 17,800 deaths.
But the research showed that women and girls in Africa were more at risk of being killed by family members.
The onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020 coincided with a significant increase in femicides in North America and western and southern Europe, according to the research.
Data from 25 countries in Europe and the Americas indicates that the increases were largely due to killings carried out by family members other than husbands and partners.
