This indicator presents the estimated annual costs of gender-based and intimate partner violence against women and men in the EU. The findings are based on EIGE's 2021 report on The costs of gender-based violence in the European Union. The costs were estimated using the existing methodology from EIGE's 2014 study entitled 'Estimating the costs of gender-based violence in the European Union.'.
The indicator provides data on two types of violence:
- Gender-based violence: Violence directed against a person because of their gender, including physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and economic violence.
- Intimate partner violence: Any act of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occurs between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim.
The indicator also provides data on eight types of costs:
- Lost economic output: The costs associated with the loss of a victim's productivity at work and the time taken off work as a consequence of crime.
- Health services: The costs associated with the victim's use of health services to treat the physical and mental harms caused.
- Criminal justice system costs: The costs associated with investigating cases of violence against women (e.g., police-time spent on cases). In addition, these costs also include ‘no-crime costs’ for police time spent on assault-related domestic incidents.
- Civil justice system costs: The costs associated with a victim’s use of the civil justice system to disentangle themselves from a violent perpetrator. This may take the form of matrimonial proceedings (such as divorce and judicial separation) or proceedings related to children.
- Social welfare costs: The costs associated with housing victims of violence, and homelessness prevention.
- Personal costs: Additional costs incurred by victims, not covered by the government (e.g., moving expenses, housing aid, and child protection).
- Specialist services costs: The costs associated with the use of government-funded specialist services for the prevention and/or mitigation of gender-based and intimate partner violence.
- Physical and emotional impact costs: The costs associated with the reduction in the quality of life of victims of gender-based and intimate partner violence.
For EIGE's related work in the area, please consult: