According to one study, around one in four women in the world has experienced intimate partner violence at least once in her life.

Scientists came to this conclusion after evaluating data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Very young girls and women between the ages of 15 and 19 are also affected, the researchers report in the journal The Lancet.

"It is crucial and urgent to prevent intimate partner violence in the first place," says study leader Claudia Garcia-Moreno of the WHO.

Governments, societies and communities must sit up, invest more and act urgently to reduce violence against women.

Garcia-Moreno's team evaluated information from a WHO database based on more than 300 studies and surveys from 161 countries and regions with data from around two million women.

Data from women aged 15 and over from the years 2000 to 2018 were taken into account. The researchers used statistical methods to determine the spread of violence in different regions and age groups.

According to this, 27 percent of all women worldwide had experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their partnership at least once since the age of 15.

In 2018 alone, around 492 million women (13 percent) had experienced violence in the past twelve months.

In the youngest age group of 15 to 19 years, about 24 percent of women had already experienced such violence in their lives.

Long-lasting effects on the psyche

“The high number of young women experiencing intimate partner violence is alarming because adolescence and early adulthood are important periods in life when the foundations for healthy relationships are laid,” says lead scientist Lynnmarie Sardinha from the WHO.

"The violence these young women experience has long-lasting effects on their health and well-being."

The researchers conclude that governments are not on track to meet the United Nations' development goal of ending violence against women and girls by 2030.

"Although this study was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers are alarming.

And research has shown that the pandemic has exacerbated problems that lead to intimate partner violence, such as isolation, depression and anxiety, and alcohol use, and made access to support services more difficult,” says study leader Claudia Garcia-Moreno.

Situation in Oceania particularly bad

According to the study, intimate partner violence against women is most widespread in Oceania (49 percent) and lowest in Central Europe (16 percent).

It is generally more common in poorer countries than in richer ones.

The study does not give any figures for Germany.

According to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, about every fourth woman in Germany is at least once a victim of physical or sexual violence by her current or former partner.

The researchers cite the regional differences in the availability and quality of the data as weaknesses in their study, and subgroups such as people with disabilities and ethnic minorities are not fully recorded.

In addition, much of the data was based on self-declaration, for example on the type of relationship.