SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS
14% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15
40% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18
21% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18
63%of women 15-49 years thinkthat a husband/partner is justified inhitting/beating his wife under certaincircumstances
26%of women 15-49 years makeuse of at least one type of informationmedia at least once a week (newspaper,magazine, television or radio)
Source: DHS 2016
Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 31 countries with representative data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and that of the entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in countries where it is still practised.
1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.
STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
National decree/legislation banning FGM passed2004
ETHIOPIA
©UNICEF/NYHQ2009-2259/Holt
Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING
HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?
The practice of FGM is universal among certain ethnic groups
WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?
More than half of adolescent girls who underwent FGM were cut before the age of 5
Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. The category for ‘Other Christians’ includes ‘Orthodox,’ which represents the majority of the population, and ‘Protestant.’ Prevalence data for girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an underestimation the true extent of the practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional midwives and other types of traditional practitioners. Questions on type of cutting only differentiated infibulation from non-infibulating forms of FGM.
Source for all charts on this page: DHS 2016
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 yearswho have undergone FGM, by region
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by ethnicity and religion
Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by age at which cutting occurred
Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), by the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure
Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers),
by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue
Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their
mothers), by the type of FGM performed
Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM(as reported by their mothers), by residence and mother’s education
10% - 25% 26% - 50%
51% - 80%
Less than 10%
Above 80%
65
98
23
82
58
10
55
0
20
40
60
80
100
Total Muslim Roman Catholic
Other religion
Traditional religion
Ethnic groupwith highestprevalence
OtherChristians
Ethnic groupwith lowestprevalence
58
1952 5
0 20 40 60 80 100
0-4 years
5-9 years
10-14 years
15+ years
Don’t know/Missing
23 2
98
0.5 2
Traditionalpractitioner
Health personnel
Don’t know/Missing
Don't know/Missing
Sewn closed
90
9
Other type
1
17 7
17 140.3
0
20
40
60
80
100
Primarycomplete
SecondaryTotal
16
3221 15
Daughters whosemothers think FGM
should continue
Daughters whose mothers say it
depends/are not sure
Daughters whosemothers think
FGM should stop
0
20
40
60
80
100
WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?
Almost eight in ten girls and women think FGM should stop
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by household wealth quintile, education, ethnicity and age
There has been some decline in the prevalence of FGM in Ethiopia, with fewer adolescents having undergone the practice compared to older women
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue
IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?
Source for all of the above charts: DHS 2016, unless otherwise noted.
18
34
8
25 15
4
68
22 14
0
20
40
60
80
100
Total Poorest Richest No education Primary complete Secondary or higher
Ethnic group with highest support
Ethnic group with lowest support
7
79 73 75 77
68 59
47
0
20
40
60
80
100
45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years
8074
65
31
0
20
40
60
80
100
DHS 2000 DHS 2005
Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue
65
18
DHS 2016
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and
believe the practice is required by religion
Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure
0 20 40 60 80 100
11 87
7917 3
2
Girlsand women
Boysand men
0
10
20
30
40
50
Girls and women Boys and men
17
24
ETHIOPIA
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM
Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)
Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue
INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW
Notes: In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.
Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.Updated January 2020
FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring
UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017Website: data.unicef.org Email: [email protected]
0.3 1 2 4 3 7 9 10 13
19 19 21 24 24
37 38 44 45
65 67
76 76 83 86 87 87 89
94 95 98
Uganda
Camer
oon
Niger
Ghana
Togo Ira
q
Benin
United R
epublic
of T
anza
nia
Mald
ives
Yemen
Niger
ia
Kenya
Seneg
al
Centra
l Afri
can
Rep
ublic
Côte d
'Ivoire
Chad
Liber
ia
Guinea
-Biss
au
Ethio
pia
Mau
ritan
ia
Gambia
Burkin
a Fas
o
Eritre
a
Sierra
Leone
Sudan
Egypt
Mali
Djibouti
Guinea
Somali
a 0
20
40
60
80
100
0.2 0.3 0.4 1 1 1 1 1 3 8 10 10 13 14 14 16
29 30 33 39 43
49 51 51
73
Benin
Togo
United R
epublic
of T
anza
niaGhan
a Ira
q
Mald
ives
Centra
l Afri
can
Republic
Uganda
Kenya
Sierra
Leone
Chad
Côte d
'Ivoire
Burkin
a Fas
o
13
Niger
ia
Seneg
al
Egypt
Ethio
pia
Guinea
-Biss
au
Sudan
Eritre
a
Guinea
Djibouti
Indones
ia
Gambia
Mau
ritan
ia
Mali
0
20
40
60
80
100
1 2 3 3 3 6 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 13 14 15 17 19 23
29 36 37 39 41 44
54
65 65 68
76
Togo
Ghana
Iraq
United R
epublic
of T
anza
nia Benin
Niger
Kenya
Camer
oon
Mald
ives
Uganda
Burkin
a Fas
o
Centra
l Afri
can
Republic
Eritre
a
Guinea
-Biss
au
Côte d
'Ivoire
Seneg
al
Ethio
pia
Yemen
Niger
ia
Chad
Mau
ritan
ia
Djibouti
Liber
ia
Sudan
Gambia
Egypt
Somali
a
Guinea
Sierra
Leone
Mali
0
20
40
60
80
100