Violence against women, at least one assault for 6.4 million but only 10.5% report their partner

Approximately 6.4 million (31.9 per cent) Italian women aged 16 to 75 years have suffered at least one physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. 18.8% have suffered physical violence and 23.4% sexual violence; of the latter, 5.7% of women have suffered rape or attempted rape.
The picture is outlined by Istat in the 'Women's Security' survey, in which interviews with a representative sample of women provide a snapshot of the number of victims of male violence, including also the experiences suffered and never reported to the authorities ('submerged violence').

In 2025, the number of victims of physical or sexual violence in the five years prior to the interview is essentially stable compared to the same figure in 2014.
26.5% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence from relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances or strangers. Considering women who have a partner or have had a partner in the past, 12.6% of women are victims of physical or sexual violence within the couple. Psychological violence (17.9 per cent) and economic violence (6.6 per cent) are also suffered by partners, Istat points out.
The significant increase in violence suffered by very young women (16-24 years old) and schoolgirls - Istat warns in the summary - does not change the average figure.

Approximately 1,720,000 women have experienced physical violence by an ex-partner, or 15.9 per cent of women with an ex. There are almost 950,000 women who have been sexually assaulted by an ex-partner, or 8.7 per cent of women with an ex-partner. Violence by an ex-partner - ISTAT emphasises - is considered to be both that carried out during the relationship and that carried out after the end of the relationship. However, in the vast majority of cases (84.1%), violence by ex-partners occurred during the relationship.

Women who had a violent partner at the time of the interview, in almost half of the cases (45.9 per cent) left him/her because of the violence, while for another 26.3 per cent violence was only one of the reasons for the separation.

Partners, current and ex-partners, are responsible for the highest share of all forms of physical violence detected, with shares of more than 50 per cent (except for threats), and for some types of sexual violence such as rape as well as unwanted sexual intercourse, but suffered out of fear of the consequences. In fact, 63.8 per cent of rapes were committed by partners (59.1 per cent by ex-partners, 4.7 per cent by current partners), 19.4 per cent by an acquaintance, and 10.9 per cent by friends.
Only 6.9 per cent were committed by strangers to the victim (Chart 2). Attempted rapes, apart from those by the ex (29.9%), are perpetrated more by acquaintances (24.1%), friends (13.4%) and strangers (17.2%).