European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) & European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

Gender-based violence team

Cristina Fabre Rosell

Gender-based violence team leader

European Institute for Gender Equality, Gedimino pr. 16, LT-01103 Vilnius, Lithuania

EIGE.SEC@eige.europa.eu

+370 5 215 7400

Not applicable.

15/04/2026

15/04/2026

15/04/2026

The main purpose of the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV) is to assess the prevalence of violence in order to address the requirements of the Istanbul Convention. The survey covers psychological, physical and sexual violence by intimate partner, physical and sexual violence by non-partner, sexual harassment at work, violence experienced in childhood and stalking by any perpetrator.

The data collection for the first wave (year 2021) was conducted in voluntary basis and took place between September 2020 and March 2024 in the EU countries, based on their national timetables. Eurostat coordinated data collection in 18 Member States (BE, BG, DK, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, LV, LT, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI). Additionally, Italy agreed to share data from their national survey on violence against women, but the implementation of the survey was postponed from 2022 to 2024 due to administrative difficulties. The indicators disseminated for Italy are based on the last national survey conducted in 2014, and the indicators will be updated when the 2024 survey results are available. Moreover, indicators on sexual harassment at work disseminated for Italy are based on the national victimisation survey of 2022-2023.

To cover the full EU, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) launched a joint data collection in the eight Member States not covered by Eurostat (CZ, DE, IE, CY, LU, HU, RO, SE) following the EU-GBV survey manual. This data collection used an extended questionnaire that included additional items to reflect emerging policy priorities and research needs, including economic violence by an intimate partner, cyber violence, sexual harassment outside working life, feelings of safety and the impact of COVID-19 on the violence experienced by women.

While data disseminated for wave 2021 and estimated EU-average is based on a joint data collection by Eurostat, FRA and EIGE,  data on the above new additional indicators derived from the EIGE and FRA  extended data collection exercise,  is based on the survey implemented in these 8 countries and data are only available for these 8 countries.

The disseminated indicators focus on violence by perpetrator, disaggregated by type of violence, by time of occurrence, by age and by personal characteristics of the respondent; and on frequency, severity, seriousness, consequences and reporting of the experienced violence.

However, it is necessary to point out that survey data might only be a close proxy to real prevalence, as survey data depends on the willingness of the respondent to disclose any violence experienced. Therefore, to understand the prevalence of violence and disclosure rates by survey respondents, it is important to take into account the extent to which violence is tolerated in the wider community. For example, in cultures where people are ready to talk about their painful experiences, their answers may reflect more accurately their own experiences rather than community norms.

It is essential to avoid using sensitive terms that could cause anxiety or concern when introducing the survey. Accordingly, the general recommendation was that the survey name should be neutral when contacting the respondents. The aim was to avoid alerting any perpetrators of domestic violence to the nature of the survey or frightening off any victims of violence, in order to minimise non-response, as some respondents might be discouraged from taking part if the name of the survey included terms like ‘assault’, ‘sexual violence’, or ‘gender-based violence’.

The majority of countries have followed this recommendation, and the title of the survey was translated as a survey on health, safety or security and well-being or living conditions; quality of life or relationship survey.

However, the pilot survey results indicate that respondents understood the rationale for the choice of a neutral survey name once they had been given an explanation, and agreed that it was right. Due to the sensitivity of the topic, the participating countries were strongly encouraged to include experts on violence against women and/or gender-based violence, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists in every step of the survey - from the preparation, through the field work, to the data dissemination.

The majority of countries included experts on the topic in the project team: gender statisticians, gender-based violence or violence against women researchers, policy experts, psychologists, social workers, experts working on victim support or NGOs, and experts on victimisation surveys. External experts were included in the preparation of the survey, training of the interviewers and in order to provide support to the interviewers.

The country codes conform to the ISO 3166 (International Organisation of Standardisation), and regional codes to the NUTS 2 classification. Educational level of the respondent and her partner is based on ISCED 2011. Variables on respondent occupation and economic activity are optional; however, if collected, the classification of occupation uses ISCO-08 (two-digit) and the classification of economic activity uses NACE Rev. 2 (two-digit).

Restricted from publication

Statistical concepts and definitions are specified in the ‘Methodological manual for the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV)’.

Violence by type of perpetrator

Violence by intimate partner covers psychological, physical (including threats), sexual and economic violence. Intimate partners are persons with whom a respondent has or had an intimate relationship.

Prevalence of intimate partner violence is calculated among women who have ever been in an intimate partnership.

Repeated violence by an intimate partner while being together includes violence by a current partner and by the last violent former partner if the first episode happened when the respondent was still together with this former partner.

Violence by non-partner, domestic perpetrator, and any perpetrator covers physical (including threats) and sexual violence. Non-partners are all perpetrators with whom a respondent does not have or has never had an intimate relationship. Domestic perpetrator includes intimate partners and family members, and additionally any other individual living or having lived in the same household as the respondent at the time of one or more violent events.

Types of perpetrators of non-partner violence are defined according to the relationship:

• ‘Family member or relative’ includes blood relatives like parents and children, and other blood relatives that can be cohabitating or non-cohabitating, as well as other household members or relatives by marriage or adoption (e.g. siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, in-laws, etc.);
• ‘Non-family or relative but other known’ as friends, family friends, schoolmates, colleagues, co-workers, supervisor, boss, professor, teacher; any person with some authority as an army or police officer, priest, religious leader, judge, doctor; any other person known;
• ‘Any known’ includes family member, relative or other known explained above;
• ‘Stranger’ is someone completely unknown to the respondent.

Multiple victimisation is considering type of perpetrators as the current partner, former partner(s), relative(s), friend(s), supervisor(s), other person(s) with authority, other(s) known, stranger(s) or other person(s). Respondent experienced violence by one type if one of them committed a violent act, but not others. For example, if the respondent experienced violence by more than one former partner, but not by the current partner or any non-partner, it is considered as experienced violence by one type of perpetrator.

Regarding disseminated indicators on consequences of violence by any perpetrator by type of perpetrator, for intimate partners, it is calculated out of women who have ever been in an intimate partnership and for non-partners and any perpetrator, it is calculated out of all women.

Type of violence

Psychological violence by intimate partner includes a range of behaviours, encompassing acts of emotional abuse and controlling behaviour towards the respondent: belittling and humiliating; forbidding the respondent to see friends or family, or to engage in hobbies or other activities; tracking the respondent via GPS, phone or social network; forbidding the respondent to leave the house without permission or locking the respondent up; constantly accusing the respondent of being unfaithful or getting angry if the respondent speaks to another person; forbidding the respondent to work; controlling the finances of the whole family and the respondent’s personal expenses; keeping or taking away the respondent’s ID card/passport to control the respondent; yelling and smashing things or behaving in a certain way with the aim of scaring or intimidating the respondent; threatening to hurt the respondent’s children or other people close to the respondent; threatening to take away the respondent’s children or to deny custody; and threatening to harm them self if the respondent leaves them.

Economic violence is part of psychological violence behaviour in the survey implemented jointly by Eurostat, EIGE and FRA, referring to forbidding the respondent to work; controlling the finances of the whole family and the respondent’s personal expenses. In the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries, economic violence by an intimate partner includes 6 additional behaviours: discouraging or actively interfering with the respondent's employment or education; hiding or withholding money from the respondent, or lying about shared property and assets, or keeping financial information from the respondent; preventing the respondent from having access to a bank account; taking the respondent’s wages, pension, financial aid, disability payment, or other support payments from her; stealing money from the respondent or forcing her to give them money, access to her debit or credit card, or convinced her to lend them money but did not pay it back, and building up debt without the respondent’s knowledge, when she would be fully or partly responsible for it – for example by leaving bills unpaid.

Threatening means behaviour involving fear, such as threatening to harm the respondent in a way that really frightened the respondent. Regarding the disseminated indicators by type of violence, threatening means only threatening and not physical or sexual violence.

Physical violence refers to a range of violent types of behaviour or acts involving harm and fear, such as pushing or shoving the respondent, pulling their hair, slapping or throwing something at them; punching the respondent or beating them with an object; kicking; burning (with fire or acid or by some other means); trying to choke or strangle the respondent; threatening to use or actually using a knife, gun, acid or something similar; or using force against the respondent in some other way with the aim of hurting them.

Sexual violence includes unwanted sexual intercourse through force or physical violence or by exploiting a situation in which the respondent is not able to refuse sexual intercourse because they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It also includes unwanted sexual intercourse, which the respondent is too afraid to refuse and cases in which the respondent is forced into unwanted sexual intercourse with another person or persons. Attempts to carry out any of the above acts or any other unwanted sexual behaviour that the respondent finds degrading or humiliating are included as well. Finally, this type of violence also covers unwanted sexual touching by non-partners.

Sexual violence in childhood covers experiences before the age of 15 perpetrated by any person, such as posing naked in front of another person, unwanted sexual touching or sexual intercourse. In the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries, sexual violence in childhood includes 2 additional experiences: making the child watch or look at pornographic material and making the child do something else sexual. The types of perpetrators are defined for non-partner violence.

Experiencing or witnessing the violence during childhood by parents or between parents covers experiences before the age of 15:

• physical violence by a parent refers to acts such as hitting or kicking very hard or beating with an object like a stick or belt; or burning or stabbing;
• physical violence between parents refers to acts such as slapping, pulling hair, throwing things, hitting with a fist, kicking;
• psychological violence by parents or between parents refers to acts such as belittling or humiliating with words.

Apart from the respondent’s biological parent, a stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent can also be considered as a mother or father figure.

Sexual harassment at work covers the following unwanted behaviours with sexual connotations that happen in a work context: inappropriate staring or leering; being exposed to sexually explicit images or videos; indecent sexual jokes or offensive remarks about a person’s body or private life; inappropriate invitations to go out on a date or suggestions for sexual activity of any kind; unsolicited physical contact; inappropriate advances on social networking websites or sexually explicit emails or text messages; threatening with unpleasant consequences if sexual proposals or advances are refused; and any other similar behaviour with sexual connotations that took place at work or work-related settings and that offended, humiliated, or intimidated the respondent. Types of perpetrators are defined according to relationship and authority/power:

• ‘Co-worker’ is a person with whom one works, typically someone in a similar role or at a similar level within an organisation: colleague or fellow worker.
• ‘Boss’ is the job title of a management position that is primarily based on authority over a worker or being in charge of a workplace: supervisor, overseer, facilitator, monitor or area coordinator, etc.
• ‘Other work-related person’ is someone with whom the respondent has a professional relationship but who does not work in the same workplace as the respondent (e.g. client, customer, patient, student, passenger, etc.).
   

Sexual harassment at work that happened online is part of total sexual harassment and refers to inappropriate advances on social networking websites, or sexually explicit emails or text messages.

The survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries explored the concept of online sexual harassment at work in more depth, to also explore if, beyond inappropriate advances on social networking websites, or sexually explicit emails or text messages, the following violent acts at work happened also online: Exposure to sexually explicit images or videos that made them feel offended, humiliated, or intimidated; Indecent sexual jokes or offensive remarks about their body or private life; Inappropriate suggestions to go out on a date, which made them feel offended, humiliated or intimidated; Inappropriate suggestions for any sexual activity; Somebody threatened them with unpleasant consequences if they refuse sexual proposals or advances, or other similar behaviour at work with a sexual connotation which made them feel offended, humiliated or intimidated, provided these happen online (i.e., in social media, apps, email, text messages or online meetings and chats).

Prevalence of sexual harassment at work is calculated out of the number of women who ever worked., i.e. have ever had a paid employment or performed unpaid work at a business owned by a family member.

Sexual harassment outside working life was additionally explored in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries. This included the same behaviours described above under sexual harassment at work. Locations where the sexual harassment was experienced by women included private residence (women’s home and someone else’s home), online and public places (public transport or facilities, official places [hospital, police station, government office], educational institution, sport facilities or events, open public areas [streets, parks, woods], shopping areas, pubs, restaurants, hotels, cinema, theatre). Types of perpetrators -male and female- are defined according to relationship as intimate partners and non-partners (known to the respondent as well as complete strangers).

Stalking includes a range of offensive or threatening forms of behaviour or acts repeated by the same person in the course of the respondent’s life: sending unwanted messages, including messages on social media, emails and letters, or gifts; making obscene, threatening, nuisance or silent telephone calls; trying persistently to contact with the respondent, waiting or loitering outside the respondent’s home, school or workplace; following or spying on the respondent in person; intentionally damaging the respondent’s things (car, motorbike, letterbox, etc.) or the belongings of people close to the respondent, or harming animals belonging to the respondent; making offensive or embarrassing comments about the respondent in public, including comments on social networks; publishing photos, videos or highly personal information about the respondent. Types of perpetrators are defined according to the relationship as intimate partners and non-partners.

Cyber stalking or stalking online was additionally explored in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries. This includes a range of behaviours repeated by the same person in the course of the respondent’s life, that caused the respondent fear, alarm or distress, and that happened online (for example through emails, text messages, the use of social networking sites or online meetings and chats): sending the respondent unwanted messages (including messages on social media), emails, letters or gifts; making obscene, threatening, nuisance or silent calls; following or spying on the respondent remotely, such as installing a tracking app on the phone, using a GPS device or accessing the respondent’s mobile phone’s location data; making offensive or embarrassing comments about them publicly (including on social networks), and publishing photos, videos or highly personal information about the respondent, online.

Cyber violence was additionally explored in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries. This includes a range of behaviours by any perpetrator in the course of the respondent’s life, that happened online (for example through emails, text messages, the use of social networking sites or online meetings and chats): sharing or threatening to share intimate photos or videos of the respondent, real or manipulated, in a way that was meant to cause her harm; shared the respondent’s personal information, such as her name, address or telephone number in a way that was meant to cause her harm; spreading comments about the respondent that were false, in a way that was meant to cause her harm; trying to track the respondent’s movements or spying on her such as installing a tracking app on the phone, or hiding a GPS tracking device in her bag or pocket, or accessing her mobile phone’s location data without her permission, and using abusive, sexist language about the respondent because she is a woman, such as swear words or other derogatory terms specifically against women.

Feelings of safety were also and additionally explored in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries. This includes a range of avoidance acts in the last 12 months prior to the survey by women for fear of being either physically or sexually assaulted: avoiding certain streets or going to certain areas; avoiding going to places where there are no other people around, for example parks or car parks.

Repeated violence

Repeated violence (series of episodes) refers to similar violent episodes repeated by the same person(s), during which similar thing(s) are done under the same circumstances more than once. For instance, a woman might be beaten by her partner in several episodes over a period of three years.

Prevalence of one-time violence and prevalence of repeated violence are calculated for each type of violence by intimate partner (out of women who have ever been in an intimate partnership); by non-partner; by any perpetrator. Frequency of violence (one time or repeated) is also calculated for sexual harassment at work (out of women ever worked). As stalking is defined as repeated offensive or threatening behaviour, repetition (once or more) is not relevant.

Frequency of repeated violence is calculated based on how often the episodes happened: at least once a week; less often but at least once a month; or less often.

Duration of repeated violence is calculated based on how long violence lasted or has been going on: less than a year; longer, for up to five years; or longer.

Reporting or telling other people about violent experiences

Estimating unreported violence is an important aspect in defining targeted policies to eradicate violence. Indicators on reporting of violence show whether the respondent talked with anyone about the experienced violence.  Reported violence experienced by an intimate partner or by a non-partner (to whom it was reported) includes:

• ‘Close person’ that may be a family member or friend and should be understood in its widest meaning.
• ‘Health or social service’ includes reporting or talking to any doctor or nurse, or any other health, medical or social worker.
• ‘Support service’ means any organisation or official body providing help to victims of violence, e.g. support services, helplines, shelters.
• ‘Police’ covers the situation when the respondent herself reported to the police any episode of experienced violence.
• ‘A professional providing specialised psychological support' was also included in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries. For experiences of intimate partner violence, reporting covers only repeated physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former partner. For experiences of non-partner violence, reporting covers only the last episode of physical and/or sexual violence by a non-partner in the last five years.

For sexual harassment at work and sexual violence in childhood, to whom it was reported includes:

• ‘Official body’ covers reporting or talking to any support, medical or social service or worker; police; official at work (sexual harassment at work) or someone official in the school, such as a teacher, social worker, psychologist (sexual violence in childhood).  
• ‘Unofficial’ means talking to family and friends; colleague (sexual harassment at work) or classmate (sexual violence in childhood).

For experiences on stalking, reporting covers only offensive or threatening forms of behaviour done by the last perpetrator and to whom it was reported includes:

• ‘Police’ covers the situation when the respondent herself reported to the police any episode of stalking by the last perpetrator.
• ‘Legal or victim support service’ includes asking for help from a lawyer or contacting a victim support service.
• ‘Support service or police’ covers both above: police, legal or support service.

For experiences of cyber stalking involving a social media platform (such as Instagram, TikTok or Facebook), the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries also explored if these experiences were reported to the platform and the level of satisfaction with the way they handled the matter.

The share of women who reported or talked about experiences of violence by whom is calculated out of the number of women who experienced this type of violence.

Reasons for not seeking professional support

The survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries also included reasons for not seeking professional support by women having experienced repeated physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner. The reasons included: contacting somebody else instead; believing it would not have helped; discouraged by someone, such as police, relatives, friends, etc.; fear of the perpetrator/fear of consequences/afraid of consequences for perpetrator; embarrassment/self-blame; not serious enough/inappropriate for professional support/not necessary, and believing this is a private or family matter, solved it by the respondent. Reasons for not seeking professional support are calculated out of all ever-partnered women who experienced repeated physical and/or sexual violence by any partner (current or former) during their lifetime.

The extended questionnaire also included reasons for not seeking professional support by women who had experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a non-partner in the last five years who did not report the last episode to the police. The reasons included: reported to other authorities instead; police would not be able to help; police would not do anything; police would not believe; dislike of the police; discouraged to report by someone, such as police, relative, friends, etc.; fear of the perpetrator/fear of consequences/afraid of consequences for perpetrator (apprehension); embarrassment/self-blame; not serious enough/inappropriate for police/police not necessary, and this is a private or family matter, solved it by the respondent. Reasons for not seeking professional support are calculated out of all women who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a non-partner in the last five years.

Consequences of experienced violence

The consequences of violence are an important consideration both for the victim and for society. Regarding violence experienced by an intimate partner or non-partner, indicators for the following consequences are disseminated:

• ‘Psychological consequences’ means for instance, depression, panic attacks, problems with concentration, problems with sleeping or eating or other consequences. The survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries also explored the share of women who had suffered psychological consequences as a result of physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence during the last five years who sought psychological support.
• ‘Physical injury’ is damage to the body caused by external force, such as cuts, scratches, bruises, burns, broken bones or fractures, head, internal or genital injuries, miscarriage, pregnancy due to rape or any other type of injury due to physical or sexual violence.
• ‘Felt that their life was in danger’ means that the respondent felt that her life was in danger when any of the violent episodes happened.

The share of women who experienced violence by an intimate partner, non-partner or any perpetrator and consequences due to this violence is calculated out of all relevant women: for intimate partner violence out of women ever been in an intimate partnership; for violence by non-partner and any perpetrator out of all women. Indicator on women who have experienced violence by any perpetrator, by consequences and type of perpetrator is calculated out of all relevant victims: women who have experienced violence by intimate partner, non-partner or any perpetrator.

Regarding the consequences due to stalking, the focus is on more serious actions that were taken by the respondent due to stalking:

• ‘Changed telephone number/email address or closed social network’ covers the situations when the respondent had to change telephone number, change email address or close social network account.
• ‘Implemented protecting measures’ means that the respondent stopped going out alone, changed the usual route to get to work, school or university, started to take something with her to protect herself, such as scissors, a knife, or pepper spray.
• ‘Moved to another residence or changed working or studying’ covers the situations when the respondent had to change her place of residence, job, school, university or had to stop working or studying.
• ‘Psychological consequences’ due to stalking were also explored in the survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries, as well as seeking psychological support for these psychological consequences. 

The share of women who had to take these kinds of measures due to stalking is calculated out of the number of women who experienced stalking.

Awareness of support services

Awareness of support services includes knowledge of specific free-of-charge helpline available 24/7, other helpline, specific shelter free of charge, other shelters, or any other support service available for the victims of violence.

Awareness of free legal aid means the knowledge about this service available for persons experienced sexual abuse.

Countries were requested to assess the availability of national support services and provide the exact name of the services in the question.

Impact of COVID-19 on the experiences of violence by women

The survey using the extended questionnaire implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 countries also explored if the frequency of some types of violence changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The types of violence include: violence by a former intimate partner; repeated violence by a current partner; economic violence by a current partner; economic violence by a former partner; psychological violence by a current partner; and sexual harassment outside working life. The violence frequency changes include: increased, stayed the same, decreased, stopped completely, and happened only once.

Personal characteristics

Indicators are disseminated by following personal characteristics:

• Disability status is measured through a concept of general activity limitation (limitation in activities people usually do because of health problems for at least the past 6 months).
• Educational attainment level refers to the highest level in the international standard classification of education (ISCED) which an individual has successfully completed.
• Degree of urbanisation of the area where a person has their usual residence is classified in local administrative units at level 2 as cities, towns and suburbs, or rural areas, based on the share of local population living in urban clusters and in urban centres.
• Country of birth is defined as the country of usual residence of the respondent’s mother at the time of the respondent’s birth (according to the current national boundaries and not to the boundaries in place at the time of birth). The main categories include: native-born (born in the reporting country); foreign-born in an EU country; and foreign-born in a non-EU country or country of birth unknown.

Indicators are calculated as a share of women with a certain personal characteristic (e.g. severely limited) who experienced violence (e.g. by an intimate partner) out of all women with this personal characteristic (e.g. severely limited).

Timeframe of violence

Violence experienced in adulthood covers violence experienced by a non-partner since the age of 15 and intimate partner violence during a person’s lifetime.

National difficulties in the implementation of the common EU-GBV questionnaire

Countries were requested to translate and adopt the common EU-GBV survey questionnaire in their national context: relevant languages to be used and software used to collect the data. The translation and adaptation of the questions, terms, definitions and concepts were done via pretesting. In general, countries did not report particular difficulties in translating the definitions and concepts. However, a few countries had to find a proper translation for the word ‘episode’.

The statistical unit of the EU-GBV survey is the individual. Only one person per household can be interviewed, and a proxy is not allowed. The reason is the safety of the respondent and the interviewer, as it is not uncommon for the abuser to be part of the victim’s household.

The EU-GBV results cover individual persons, residing in the territory of the Member States and participating countries at the time of data collection. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are excluded from the target population, as individuals living in institutions (e.g., hospitals, prisons or religious institutions) are often not listed in the household/person survey frames, and this makes it difficult to contact them.

The target population of the EU-GBV survey is persons aged 18-74 who live in private households, with a focus on women. However, men can be included in the target population by countries willing to do so. None of the 8 countries where the extended survey was implemented by EIGE and FRA included men; therefore, the sample includes only women.

In order to get EU-wide results, the survey has to cover all EU-27 Member States. 18 Member States implement the EU-GBV survey nationally (BE, BG, DK, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, LV, LT, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, SK, SI, FI). Italy agreed to share the data based on its national Violence Against Women survey. For the remaining eight Member States (CZ, DE, IE, CY, LU, HU, RO, SE), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) implemented a separate data collection following the Eurostat methodological manual. Therefore, data on indicators that can only be calculated from the extended survey implemented by EIGE and FRA in 8 Member States do not allow for EU-wide results.

Data collection for the first wave covers the 2020-2024 period. The duration of the fieldwork was recommended as four-months period based on national timetables (wave 2021). However, the sensitive nature of the survey means that staff may encounter many refusals and may need to make return visits, ring people back, or even do re-sampling and therefore, the fieldwork period could be prolonged in order to ensure high-quality data.

Table 2. Fieldwork period.

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To develop efficient and effective policy and legal responses to limit/stop gender-based violence, accurate data are necessary. Thus, the Gender Equality Strategy of the European Commission for 2020-2025 calls for comprehensive, updated and comparable data for policies on combating gender-based violence. The EU-GBV survey is not covered by an official EU legislation, and the first wave of the data collection in 2020-2024 takes place on a voluntary basis.

Data collection on gender-based violence is implemented based on the Commission implementing decision on the financing of the Programme for the single market, competitiveness of enterprises, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and European statistics and the adoption of the work programme for 2021-2024.

Even more, Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 requests to provide high quality, timely and reliable statistics to support the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Union Skills Policy, including statistics on the labour market, employment, education and training, income, living conditions, poverty, inequality, social protection, gender based violence, undeclared work, and satellite accounts on skills.

Data on GBV are collected in order to address the requirement of the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe, Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, Istanbul 2011). The Gender Equality Strategy announced measures to obtain the same objectives as the Istanbul Convention. Therefore, on 8 March 2022, the Commission adopted a legislative proposal on combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. Accordingly, the Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence includes a provision to conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals to assess the prevalence and trends.

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Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164) stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines. It ensures the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data, with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Publication rules:

• estimates should not be published if based on fewer than 20 sample observations or if the non-response for the item concerned exceeds 50%;
• estimates should be published with a flag if based on 20 to 49 sample observations or if non-response for the item concerned exceeds 20% and is lower than or equal to 50%;
• estimates shall be published in the normal way when based on 50 or more sample observations and non-response for the item concerned is lower than 20%.

Flags:

• e     estimated;
• u     unreliable (i.e. due to small sample size);
• d     definition differs, see metadata.

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Not applicable

Not applicable

Data is disseminated to all types of users simultaneously via the EIGE Gender Statistics Database.

Restricted from publication

Not applicable.

Please consult: EIGE Gender Statistics Database- Gender-based violence.

No microdata are disseminated.

Data is made available in EIGE's Gender Statistics database and can be found under its ‘Gender-based violence’ entry point.

Information is provided in the Methodological manual for the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV) (available at this website) as well as in Statistics on crime and criminal justice dedicated group in CIRCABC.

Not applicable.

A common questionnaire and methodology have been developed for the EU-GBV survey, which are followed by the countries in order to implement the survey. Please see more details in the Methodological manual for the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV).

EU-GBV survey questionnaire and methodology were developed based on the results of the pre-testing and pilot survey. Testing was conducted in 14 countries over the period 2018–2019.

For further information, please see: Quality Considerations for EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database.

Standardisation is achieved with the common questionnaire and common list and content of target variables. This is complemented by Eurostat consistency and integrity checks on the microdata. In addition, countries should report to Eurostat any deviation from the standard.

EU-GBV statistics have an overall high quality. National surveys are considered reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology. However, the EU-GBV, like any survey, is based upon a sample of the population. The results are therefore subject to the usual types of errors associated with random sampling. Based on the sample size and design in the various Member States and participating countries, Eurostat implements basic guidelines intended to avoid publication of figures that are unreliable and to give a warning for low reliability.

The relevance of an instrument has to be assessed in the light of the needs of its users. As for the EU-GBV survey results, the main users are the following:

• institutional users like DG JUST of the Commission and other Commission services;
• statistical users in Eurostat or in Member States and participating countries;
• end users - including the media - interested in gender-based violence against women.

Additionally, the Directive (EU) 2024/1385 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on combating violence against women and domestic violence includes a provision to conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals to assess the prevalence and trends.

No user opinions have been collected.

EU-GBV results cover the national territories of the participating countries.

Data were to be based on a nationally representative sample of the population residing in private households within the country, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status. The sampling frame and methods of sample selection were left to the countries’ experiences with other population surveys, in which they could ensure that every individual in the target population was assigned a known and non-zero probability of selection. The main condition that needs to be fulfilled is that only one person can be interviewed per household.

The indicative effective sample size defined for the EU-GBV is 5000 respondents per country. However, countries are allowed to increase or decrease the sample size in order to collect high-quality data.

Table 3. Gross and net sample size forwomen.

Standard errors of key indicators are commonly used as a measure of the reliability of data collected through a sample survey. EU-GBV survey was designed to provide a measure of the prevalence of violence during lifetime by women aged 18 -74 years. The indicative effective sample size was defined taking into account this accuracy requirement.

A non-sampling error is an error in survey estimates which cannot be attributed to sampling fluctuations. Such errors can either be coverage errors, measurement errors, non-response errors, processing errors or model assumption errors.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

A high level of comparability across the participating countries is ensured by:

• the use of the same definitions for all countries;
• the transmission to Eurostat of the same list of variables with the same coding;
• the use of common classifications;
• the central validation of data done by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

EU-GBV survey data collection follows international standards: ISCO, NACE, ISCED, degree of urbanisation, and standardised variables for social surveys.

Restricted from publication.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The EU-GBV is a random sample survey of persons living in private households. The sampling units are dwellings, households or individuals, depending on the sampling frame. Different schemes are used to sample the units, ranging from the simple random sampling method to complex stratified multi-stage sampling methods of clusters.

Participation in the survey is voluntary for all participating countries.

Not yet agreed.

There are no constraints on the most appropriate mode of data collection, which can vary from country to country. Nevertheless, due to the sensitive nature of this survey, research and data-based findings, the most recommended mode is face-to-face and computer-assisted methods over other methods. The possibility of self-completion is also supported.

Prior to the dissemination of transmitted national data, Eurostat checks the data quality and consistency. Validation rules are provided in the Eurostat methodological manual.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.