Terminology and indicators for data collection : rape, femicide and intimate partner violence.
Date: 2017-12-11
Institutions: European Institute for Gender Equality
Subjects: EU Member State, data collection, domestic violence, femicide, gender equality, report, sexual discrimination, sexual violence, social indicator, statistical method, woman, women's rights

Terminology and indicators  
for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate  
partner violence

Report

European Institute for Gender Equality

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Terminology and indicators 
for data collection:

Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report is based on a study commissioned by the European Institute for Gender 
Equality  (EIGE)  in  2015  on  terminology  and  indicators  for  data  collection  on  rape, 
femicide  and  intimate  partner  violence.  The  study  was  carried  out  by  Milieu  Ltd  in 
2016. The main researcher involved was Nathalie Meurens.

The work on this report was coordinated by Jurgita Pečiūrienė (EIGE). Other colleagues 
involved from EIGE were Anke Gittenaer, Emily Goulding, Merle Paats, Helena Morais 
Maceira and Ligia Nobrega.

This  report  is  accompanied  by  other  publications  related  to  EIGE’s  work  on  data 
collection on violence against women. More information and these resources can be 
found  on  EIGE’s  website  (www.eige.europa.eu)  under  the  ‘Gender-based  violence’ 
section.

The European Institute for Gender Equality would like to thank the following experts 
for their involvement in the study:

BE

BG

CZ

DK

DE

EE

IE

EL

ES

FR

HR

IT

CY

LV

Laura Jacques

Raya Raychinova

Hana Spanikova

Nina Smith

Elena Fries-Tersch

Anu Laas

Raya Raychinova

Nelli Kambouri

Ana Gomez

Laura Jacques

Jelena Milovanovic

Anna Di Pietro

Corina Demetriu

Kristine Dupate

National experts consulted

LT

LU

HU

MT

NL

AT

PL

PT

RO

SI

SK

FI

SE

UK

Dovile Stoskeviciute

Tugce Tugran

Julia Spronz

Tugce Tugran

Jamila Medjoubi

Elena Fries-Tersch

Magdalena Knypinska

Marta Santos Silva

Irina Costache

Katarina Vučko

Hana Spanikova

Johanna Skippari

Inger Lövkrona

Athena Christofi

2

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

FOREWORD

The  collection  of  data  on  violence  against  women  has 
been on the agenda of the European Union, the Council 
of  Europe  and  the  United  Nations  for  many  years,  sup-
porting their commitment to eradicate violence against 
women.  The  European  Parliament’s  resolution  on  the 
elimination  of  violence  against  women,  the  Council  of 
the  European  Union’s  conclusions  on  the  eradication 
of violence against women and on combating violence 
against women, and the provision of support services for 
victims of domestic violence all highlight the lack of avail-
able and comparable data in this area. Without compre-
hensive  and  comparable  data,  it  is  impossible  to  assess 
the effectiveness of EU policies that aim to eliminate this 
violence.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) is com-
mitted to establishing a common future measure of vio-
lence against women, which would utilise administrative 
data  sources  and  make  data  comparable  across  all  the 
Member States. In this way, EIGE supports Member States 
in meeting their monitoring requirements under the Vic-
tims’ Rights Directive and the Istanbul Convention.

EIGE  has  been  mapping  and  analysing  administrative 
data  collection  on  various  forms  of  violence  against 
women  across  the  EU-28  since  2012,  providing  access 
to existing statistical data and information and support-
ing institutions and experts engaged in preventing and 
combating  violence  against  women  in  the  European 
Union and beyond. Identified data gaps and challenges 
in  producing  and  collecting  data  on  violence  against 
women  significantly  limit  our  knowledge  of  emerging 
and existing forms of violence and curb the monitoring 

of institutional responses. To overcome these challenges, 
EIGE has published several reports on administrative data 
sources  and  good  practices  on  administrative  data  col-
lection on violence against women.

In  this  report,  EIGE  steps  up  its  efforts  to  measure  the 
most serious forms of violence against women and pro-
poses  a  set  of  uniform  definitions  and  indicators  to  aid 
the  collection  of  data  on  rape,  femicide  and  intimate 
partner  violence.  The  development  of  these  definitions 
and indicators is a result of an in-depth analysis of Euro-
pean,  international  and  national  terminology,  building 
further upon existing agreements and future monitoring 
requirements.

This publication provides recommendations on more ef-
fective ways to improve data collection in the EU on vio-
lence  against  women.  It  also  presents  guidelines  which 
help  to  adapt  and  integrate  a  gender  perspective  into 
the  International  Classification  of  Crimes  for  Statistical 
Purposes (ICCS).

EIGE’s research contributes to establishing a clearer under-
standing  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  violence  against 
women,  which  is  essential  for  the  development,  imple-
mentation and monitoring of appropriate policies, legis-
lation and victim support services to ultimately combat 
this harmful phenomenon.

Virginija Langbakk,
Director
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE)

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

3

ABBREVIATIONS

Country abbreviations

BE
BG
CZ
DK
DE
EE
IE
EL
ES
FR
HR
IT
CY
LV
LT
LU

Belgium
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Germany
Estonia
Ireland
Greece
Spain
France
Croatia
Italy
Cyprus
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg

HU
MT
NL
AT
PL
PT
RO
SI
SK
FI
SE
UK
UK_E&W
UK_NI
UK_SC
EU-28

Hungary
Malta
Netherlands
Austria
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Slovakia
Finland
Sweden
United Kingdom
United Kingdom: England and Wales
United Kingdom: Northern Ireland
United Kingdom: Scotland
European Union

Frequently used abbreviations

CEDAW
CoE
EIGE
FGM
FRA
EU
GBV
Grevio
ICCS
IPV
Istanbul Convention
MS
CSO
TFEU
UN
VAW
WHO

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Council of Europe
European Institute for Gender Equality
female genital mutilation
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
European Union
gender-based violence
Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence
International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes
intimate partner violence
Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence
Member States
civil society organisation
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
United Nations
violence against women
World Health Organization (UN)

4

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

Contents

FOREWORD  ............................................................................................................................................  3

ABBREVIATIONS  ....................................................................................................................................  4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  ........................................................................................................................  7

1.  INTRODUCTION  ............................................................................................................................  13

1.1.  Scope and objective  .................................................................................................................................................... 15

1.2.  Administrative data  ...................................................................................................................................................... 16

2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN  .............  19

2.1.  Data collection in the European Union  ............................................................................................................ 21

2.2.  Data collection at national level  ........................................................................................................................... 24

2.2.1. Police sector  
2.2.2. Justice sector   
2.2.3. Social services sector  
2.2.4. Health sector  

 24
 25
 25
 26

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN  ...............................................................................  27

3.1.  Glossary of definitions  ................................................................................................................................................ 29

3.2.  Common components in existing definitions  ............................................................................................. 29

3.3.  Rape  ......................................................................................................................................................................................  30

3.3.1.  European and international definitions of rape  
3.3.2. National definitions of rape  
3.3.3. Summary  

 30
 31
 33

3.4.  Femicide  ............................................................................................................................................................................. 33

3.4.1.  European and International definitions of femicide  
3.4.2. National definitions of femicide  
3.4.3. Summary  

 33
 34
 35

3.5.  Intimate partner violence  ......................................................................................................................................... 35

3.5.1.  European and international definitions of intimate partner violence  
3.5.2.  National definitions of intimate partner violence  
3.5.3. Summary  

 35
 36
 40

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

5

4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN  ...............................................  41

4.1.  Definitions  .........................................................................................................................................................................  44

4.1.1. Rape  
4.1.2. Femicide  
4.1.3. Intimate partner violence   

 44
 45
 46

4.2.  Indicators  ............................................................................................................................................................................ 47

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS  .................................................................................................................. 49

5.1.  European Union  ............................................................................................................................................................. 51

5.2.  Member States  ...............................................................................................................................................................  54

6.  CONCLUSION  .................................................................................................................................  57

ANNEXES  ...............................................................................................................................................  61

Annex 1:  Overview of data availability on rape, femicide and intimate partner violence 

in different administrative sectors  ............................................................................................................. 63

Annex 2:  Number of Member States that include the component ‘use of force’ in their 

definitions for data collection on rape  ..................................................................................................  66

Annex 3:  Number of Member States that include the component ‘taking advantage of 

vulnerabilities’ in their definitions for data collection on rape  ................................................ 67

Annex 4:  Number of countries that include the component ‘penetration’  

(vaginal or other forms) in their definitions for data collection on rape  ...........................  68

Annex 5:  Overview of the femicide components in the Member States’ definitions ..................... 69

Annex 6:  Overview of components of intimate partner violence among Member States  ......... 70

Annex 7:  Reference to economic violence as a component of domestic/family violence  ......... 71

Annex 8:  Relationship covered by the definition of intimate partner violence/domestic 

violence ..................................................................................................................................................................... 72

Annex 9:   Availability of data on femicide in EU Member States  ................................................................ 73

Annex 10:  The Council of the European Union indicators on violence against women  .............. 75

BIBLIOGRAPHY  .................................................................................................................................... 77

6

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive summary

Introduction

This  report  lays  the  ground  for  the  establishment  of 
a  measure  of  violence  against  women  through  the  use 
of  harmonised  definitions  and  indicators  on  rape,  fem-
icide and intimate partner violence. The proposed defini-
tions  and  indicators  will  guide  methods  of  data  collec-
tion across the 28 EU Member States in a way that ensures 
the reliability and comparability of data. The definitions 
and indicators were developed to facilitate the monitor-
ing requirements Member States face today on violence 
against women, in particular under the Victims’ Rights Dir-
ective and the Istanbul Convention. In this way they can 
be considered as useful instruments supporting Member 
States to respond to requests for data on violence against 
women.

The scope of the report is on reported violence obtained 
through administrative data sources, as they are the most 
relevant  for  assessing  institutions’  response  to  violence 
against women. The report focuses on improving admin-
istrative data collection on the three most serious forms 
of violence against women: rape, femicide and intimate 
partner violence. The main sectors considered are police 
and justice, as they hold the highest potential to improve 
the availability and comparability of data on these forms 
of violence among Member States.

The EU framework of data 
collection on violence 
against women

At the time of writing, no specific EU legal instrument on 
data collection on violence against women is available. 
The EU framework on this topic consists of the general 
statistical requirements in the Treaty on the Functioning 
of the European Union and recent gender equality poli-
cy initiatives where data collection is part of the integral 

texts. The Victims’ Rights Directive on the other hand is 
the  first  legally  binding  EU  document  putting  in  place 
a  data  collection  mechanism  partly  related  to  violence 
against women, which obliges Member States to report 
on how victims’ rights are ensured (every 3 years). Only 
once the Istanbul Convention is fully ratified by the EU 
will  a  specific  structure  for  data  collection  on  all  forms 
of violence against women be in place, compelling all of 
the EU Member States to send accurate and comparable 
data from administrative sources and population-based 
surveys to Eurostat.

As the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat is 
responsible for  the consolidation  of crime statistics  and 
Member States have to provide data according to stand-
ard  crime  definitions.  The  2014  joint  Eurostat–UNODC 
data compilation system, initiated to reduce duplication 
and improve data quality, covers certain aspects of rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence. Though there is 
not enough data to populate indicators on these forms of 
violence, any further initiative should be integrated into 
this approach. Additionally, Eurostat aligns its compi lation 
to the UN Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of 
Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) and the International 
Classifications of Crime for Statistical purposes (ICCS). The 
latter unfortunately does not collect information on the 
victim–perpetrator relationship.

Information  provided  by  Member  States  and  available 
through Eurostat:

 

 

 

21 Member States provide data according to Eurostat’s 
rape definition;

18 Member States provide data according to Eurostat’s 
‘femicide’  definition 
intentional 
homicide data);

(derived 

from 

12  Member  States  provide  data  on  one  form  of 
intimate  partner  violence  (victims  of  intentional 
homicide by a partner).

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

9

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EIGE

Comparing 
(Eurostat–UNODC)  data  across  Member 
States is challenging because of different data recording 
methods and differences between criminal justice sour-
ces at country level. Different authorities collect different 
data on violence against women and the quality of the 
data varies significantly.

Mapping existing definitions 
to reveal common elements

All  of  the  existing  definitions  on  rape,  femicide  and  in-
timate  partner  violence  at  European,  international  and 
national  level  were  reviewed  to  reveal  their  common 
components (EIGE, 2017a).

  Nine common components of rape were identified, 
and an assessment of Member States’ definitions was 
undertaken to see which definitions contained these 
(or  parts  of  these)  components:  all  of  the  Member 
States  have  a  specific  offence  of  rape  or  sexual 
violence  and  the  components  ‘lack  of  consent’ 
and  ‘vaginal  intercourse’  were  present 
in  all 
national definitions.

 

 

Femicide  is  not  defined  in  any  Member  State’s 
legislation  and  therefore  the  definition  of  homicide 
was considered as a proxy, taking into account specific 
disaggregation: sex of the victim (female), relationship 
with  the  perpetrator  (partner  or  ex-partner)  and 
motivation  (gender-based).  The 
initial  review  of 
definitions resulted in the selection of nine common 
components and the assessment of these at national 
level  concluded  that  only  ‘intentional  killing’  was 
present in the majority of Member States’ definitions. 
Only in a small amount of definitions are the sex of 
the victim (female), relationship with the perpetrator 
(partner or ex-partner) or motivation (gender-based)  
considered  aggravating  circumstances.  In  terms  of 
data collection, almost all Member States collect data 
on the sex of the homicide victims.

Intimate  partner  violence  is  not  systematically 
defined  internationally,  nor  do  national  definitions 
have 
core 
components  could  nevertheless  be  distinguished 

terminology. 

comparable 

Five 

and it was assessed if they were present in Member 
States’ definitions. ‘Physical violence’ was the only 
form  of  violence  present  in  all  of  the  28  national 
definitions, and ‘psychological violence’ and ‘sexual 
violence’ were present in the majority of definitions.

It is clear that Member States use different legal and stat-
istical definitions of rape, femicide and intimate partner 
violence  and  variation  exists  in  the  coverage,  units  of 
measurement  and  data  collection  methods,  which  hin-
ders the comparability of data.

Developing definitions and 
indicators for coordinated 
data compilation

A consistent regulatory framework across Member States 
with comparable legal definitions would greatly facilitate 
data comparability. For now, this report presents uniform 
statistical definitions (categories and definitions used for 
data collection and classification of information), an im-
portant step towards comparable administrative data on 
violence against women in the EU.

This  report’s  analysis  of  existing  definitions  of  rape, 
femicide  and  intimate  partner  violence  resulted  in  the 
development  of  a  set  of  uniform  definitions.  These 
defin itions  were  drafted  in  consultation  with  experts 
and  were  fully  aligned  to  the  international  framework 
of the Istanbul Convention, the Victims’ Rights Directive 
and the International Classification of Crime for Statistical 
purposes (ICCS). Therefore, they can be used by Member 
States to monitor these binding instruments.

Together with the definitions, seven output indicators 
were  developed  to  measure  the  number  of  reported 
incidents  or  incidents  identified  or  processed  by  the 
police  and  justice  sectors.  The  following  criteria  were 
taken  into  account  in  this  endeavour:  relevance,  meas-
urability,  specificity,  complementarity  and  validity.  The 
age threshold was set at 18 years and over, in line with 
Eurostat  and  existing  European  survey  questionnaires, 
again  to  enhance  comparability.  These  indicators,  in-
cluding uniform definitions, units and sources, will guide 

10

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

coordination of data collection in and between Member 
States. Indicators are a benchmark for Member States to 
collect data and they allow for the identification of gaps 
that need to be addressed, for example in terms of dis-
aggregation,  units  of  measurement  and  other  aspects 
that  can  improve  data  collection.  Indicators  allow  for 

the estimation of reporting rates and monitoring institu-
tions’ performance.

The definitions and indicators are presented in the next 
table:

Table 1:  Overview of the developed definitions and indicators to measure rape, femicide and  

intimate partner violence

Form of violence

Definition

Indicator

Rape

Femicide

General

Physical  
violence

Intimate  
partner 
violence

Sexual  
violence

Psychological 
violence

Economic 
violence

Sexual penetration, whether vaginal, anal or oral, 
through the use of object or body parts, without 
consent, using force, coercion or by taking advan-
tage of the vulnerability of the victim.
The killing of a woman by an intimate partner and 
death of a woman as a result of a practice that is 
harmful to women. Intimate partner is understood 
as former or current spouse or partner, whether or 
not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same 
residence with the victim.
Any act of physical, sexual, psychological or 
economic violence that occurs between former or 
current spouse or partner, whether or not the per-
petrator shares or has shared the same residence 
with the victim.
Any act which causes physical harm to the partner 
or former partner as a result of unlawful phys-
ical force. Physical violence can take the form of, 
among others, serious and minor assault, depriv-
ation of liberty and manslaughter.
Any sexual act performed on the victim without 
consent. Sexual violence can take the form of rape 
or sexual assault.
Any act or behaviour which causes psychological 
harm to the partner or former partner. Psychologic-
al violence can take the form of, among others, 
coercion, defamation, verbal insult or harassment.
Any act or behaviour which causes economic 
harm to the partner. Economic violence can take 
the form of, among others, property damage, 
restricting access to financial resources, educa-
tion or the labour market, or not complying with 
economic responsibilities, such as alimony.

Annual number of women victims reporting 
rape aged 18 years and over.

Women victims of intimate femicide aged 18 
and over committed by an intimate partner, 
as a share of women victims of homicide 
aged 18 and over.

Annual number of women victims of intimate 
partner violence aged 18 and over as re-
corded by administrative services.

Annual number of women victims of physical 
intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, 
as recorded by administrative services.

Annual number of women victims of sexual 
intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, 
as recorded by administrative services.
Annual number of women victims of psycho-
logical intimate partner violence aged 18 and 
over, as recorded by administrative services.

Annual number of women victims of eco-
nomic intimate partner violence aged 18 or 
over, as recorded by administrative services.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

11

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EIGE

Conclusions and 
recommendations

Not only does this report reveal the urgent need to im-
prove administrative data collection on violence against 
women,  it  also  proposes  clear  and  concise  tools  and 
recommendations to overcome the different challenges 
identified. To enhance information on reported cases of 
rape,  femicide  and  intimate  partner  violence,  and  thus 
enable assessment of the service response, these recom-
mendations are addressed to the European Union and its 
Member States.

Reinforce the EU legal framework  for  data  collection 
on violence against women by:

 

 

ratifying the signed Istanbul Convention at EU level 
and monitoring its implementation in all EU Member 
States;

developing a legal act at EU level to further strengthen 
the  establishment  of  an  EU-wide  coherent  data 
compilation system on violence against women;

  monitoring  and  supporting  Member  States’  full 
implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive.

Adopt  harmonised  definitions  and  indicators 
(such  as  those  proposed  in  this  report)  for  coordin-
ated data collection as they are:

 

 

 

precisely  developed  to  support  Member  States 
in their efforts to collect data on violence against 
women in a coordinated way;

fully aligned to existing international monitoring 
mechanisms  on  violence  against  women:  the 
Istanbul Convention, the Victims’ Rights Directive 
and  the  Beijing  Platform  for  Action  (United 
Nations, 1995);

based on and building further upon the standards 
of  the  International  Classification  of  Crimes  for 
Statistical Purposes (ICCS).

Add  a  gender  dimension  to  all  aspects  of  EU  (crime) 
statistics by:

 

 

 

 

 

 

highlighting  the  area  of  violence  against  women  in 
every European statistical programme from Eurostat;

including  the  essential  disaggregation  ‘sex  of  the 
victim’  and  ‘victim-perpetrator  relationship’  in  EU-
level statistics;

adding criminal offences related to intimate partner 
violence and femicide to Eurostat’s data compilation 
process;

enhancing  the  data  availability  and  visibility  on 
economic and psychological violence;

introducing the tag ‘victim–perpetrator relationship’ 
and  specific  codes  for  rape,  femicide  and  intimate 
partner violence to the ICCS;

broadening Eurostat’s definition of rape to that of the 
ICCS and EIGE.

Member States are encouraged and supported to:

 

 

 

 

 

step up efforts on data collection on violence against 
women in order to meet the different European and 
international monitoring requirements;

align data collection, in particular on violence against 
women,  to  the  principles  of  the  European  Statistics 
Code of Practice and the codes of the ICCS;

further disaggregate data at national level to provide 
information  on  the  victim–perpetrator  relationship, 
sex and age of the victim;

adopt  integrated  IT  systems  in  all  phases  of  law 
enforcement  and  use  the  expertise  of  national 
statistical  offices  to  aid  coordinated  data  collection 
on violence against women;

complement administrative data on violence against 
women with national population-based survey data, 
using  comparable  definitions  and  disaggregation 
levels.

12

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

1. INTRODUCTION

1. 

INTRODUCTION

Violence against women is both rooted in, and a mani-
festation of, women’s unequal status with men in society, 
reflecting the unbalanced distribution of social, political 
and economic power between the sexes.

EU and considered very serious offences. EIGE’s previous 
work on administrative data supports this focus, as these 
forms of violence currently have the highest potential in 
terms of EU-wide comparability.

In  the  Istanbul  Convention,  ‘violence  against  women  is 
understood as a violation of human rights and a form of 
discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of 
gender-based violence that result in, or are likely to result 
in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or 
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, co-
ercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occur-
ring in public or in private life’ (Council of Europe, 2011a).

The overall objective of the report is:

 

to establish a measure of violence against women 
through the use of indicators on rape, femicide and 
intimate partner violence, which will guide methods 
of data collection across the 28 EU Member States in 
a way that ensures the reliability and comparability 
of data on violence against women.

The  European  Institute  for  Gender  Equality  (EIGE)  is 
committed  to  enhancing  the  understanding  of  the  na-
ture  and  extent  of  violence  against  women.  The  focus 
of  EIGE’s  strategic  framework  on  combating  violence 
against  women  (2015-2018)  is  the  improvement  of  data 
collection  and  support  to  Member  States  to  collect 
comparable  data  on  different  forms  of  violence  against 
women.

EIGE  mapped  administrative  data  sources  on  violence 
against  women  in  the  European  Union  and  provided 
a comprehensive technical analysis of the data collection 
systems in all Member States (EIGE, 2014a). The status and 
potential of administrative data as a source for compar-
able data was assessed and an online mapping tool and 
good practice guide accompanied the results.

The present report builds further upon EIGE’s work in this 
area and marks an important next step in the process of 
making administrative data on violence against women 
available and comparable in the European Union.

1.1.  Scope and objective

The  research  in  this  report  is  centred  on  three  main 
types  of  violence  against  women:  rape,  femicide  and 
intimate  partner  violence.  These  are  the  most  widely 
criminalised forms of violence against women across the 

The analysis conducted in this report comprises five main 
stages:

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

the mapping of the current policy framework on data 
collection on violence against women in the EU;

the analysis of existing definitions on rape, femicide 
and intimate partner violence at EU, international and 
Member State level to reveal common components;

the  development  of  uniform  definitions  of  rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence to harmonise 
definitions for statistical purposes;

the development of indicators on rape, femicide, and 
intimate partner violence, based on harmonised data 
collection, to establish a measure on violence against 
women;

the drafting of recommendations for the EU and the 
Member  States  to  regularly  measure  rape,  femicide 
and intimate partner violence in a comparable way.

The  scope  of  the  report  is  on  reported  violence,  ob-
tained through administrative data sources. Adminis-
trative data sources are the most relevant for assessing in-
stitutions’ response to violence against women. They are 
an important source of information on violence against 

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

15

1.  INTRODUCTION

EIGE

women in the EU for monitoring and evaluating purpos-
es. Some forms of violence, such as femicide or trafficking 
of women for sexual exploitation, can only be gathered 
through administrative data sources.

The  difference  between  actual  prevalence  of  violence  on 
one  hand,  and  disclosed  violence  recorded  by  surveys  on 
the other, is a ‘grey zone’.

EIGE’s  previous  research  on  administrative  data  sources 
concluded  that  the  police  and  justice  sectors  are  the 
most advanced in the availability, quality and comparability 
of administrative data on violence against women and are 
therefore the main sectors addressed in this report.

1.2.  Administrative data

Data on violence against women can be obtained through 
different  sources,  including  cross-sectional  surveys  as  the 
closest proxy to actual prevalence or through administra-
tive  institutions  dealing  with  reported  cases  of  violence 
against  women.  Official  statistics  are  compiled  and  pro-
duced,  usually  by  the  national  statistical  office,  based  on 
data from surveys and/or administrative sources, capturing 
only partially the actual extent of violence against women.

Figure 1: Data sources on violence against women

Grey zone 
(Actual prevalence)

Disclosed violence
(Survey-based data)

Reported violence
(Administrative data)

Official statistics

(Source: EIGE, 2013)

16

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

Administrative data complements prevalence survey data by 
providing information on cases reported to institutions and 
thus gives only a partial picture of violence against women.

In order to correctly interpret administrative data, all sources 
are to be considered and contextualised.

Administrative data are produced as a result of the report-
ing processes of organisations. Information is primarily collect-
ed for administrative purposes, such as registration or record-
keeping, usually during the delivery of a service, but not for 
research or statistical purposes (as opposed to survey data). 

Administrative  data  sources  refer  to  the  (non-statistical) 
administrative organisations that collect data, or to the da-
tabase or collecting system used by that organisation to re-
cord the data, since in some cases the same administrative 
unit is responsible for more than one data source. The sourc-
es of administrative data can be broken down into distinct 
administrative systems or sectors:

 

 

 

 

police (e.g. municipal, regional and national police);

justice (e.g. courts, prosecution offices, criminal and civil 
justice, prisons);

health (e.g. medical centres and emergency services);

social services:

 •

 •

social welfare (e.g. subsidised housing, 
employment aid and welfare benefits);
support and assistance (e.g. victim-support centres, 
shelters, legal and psychological counselling and 
helplines);

 

other:

 •

 •

civil society organisations and privately owned 
organisations providing assistance to victims (e.g. 
women’s shelters);
other governmental organisations.

Administrative  data  collection  refers  to  the  process  of 
gathering administrative data.

EIGE

1.  INTRODUCTION

Read more

Additional publications accompany this report, offer-
ing further information on administrative data collec-
tion on violence against women:

  Glossary  of  definitions  of  rape,  femicide  and 
intimate  partner  violence:  providing  a  detailed 
overview  of  the  existing  European,  international 
and  national  definitions  of  rape,  femicide  and 
intimate partner violence;

 

Leaflet  on  administrative  data  collection  on 
rape,  femicide  and  intimate  partner  violence  in 
EU Member States: providing a brief introduction 
on administrative data and how the process of data 
collection is organised in different sectors;

  Note on prevalence surveys on rape and intimate 
partner violence in the EU-28: giving an overview 
of  the  potential  of  national  surveys  to  meet 
international monitoring requirements.

These  publications  are  available  on  EIGE’s  web-
site  (www.eige.europa.eu)  under  the  ‘Publications’ 
section.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

17

2. EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA 

COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE 
AGAINST WOMEN

2. 

 EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA 
COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE 
AGAINST WOMEN

This  section  provides  an  overview  of  the  current  policy 
framework on data collection on violence against women 
in the European Union and presents the mandates and 
competencies of the different institutions concerned.

2.1.  Data collection in the 
European Union

The collection of data at EU level in general is based on Art-
icle 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union (TFEU), which allows for the adoption of measures to 
produce statistics ‘where necessary for the performance of 
the activities of the Union’. The production of statistics must 
be impartial, reliable, objective, scientific, independent and 
cost-effective, must ensure statistical confidentiality and be 
without excessive burdens on economic operators.

Regarding  data  collection  on  violence  against  women, 
several  EU  initiatives  have  highlighted  this  need  over 
many  years.  Recently,  the  European  Commission  stated 
in  its  Strategic  Engagement  for  Gender  Equality  2016-2019 
that  combating  violence  against  women  and  protect-
ing  and  supporting  victims  remains  one  of  its  key  prior-
ity  areas  (European  Commission,  2015:5).  The  eradication 
of violence against women requires improvements to the 
availability, quality, comparability and reliability of data in 
this area in cooperation with Eurostat, the European Insti-
tute  for  Gender  Equality  (EIGE)  and  the  European  Union 
Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

Directive  2012/29/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of 
the Council of 25 October 2012 (the Victims’ Rights Direc-
tive) is the first legally binding EU document that establish-
es a data collection mechanism partly related to offences 
of violence against women (1). Under this directive, as from 

2017 and every 3 years thereafter, Member States will be 
required to communicate data on how victims (including 
victims  of  gender-based  violence)  access  the  rights  en-
shrined in the directive. It also calls on Member States to 
collect and disseminate data on at least the number and 
type of crimes reported and, if known and available, the 
number of victims, their age and their sex.

Directive 2011/99/EU of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 13 December 2011 on the European pro-
tection  order  requires  Member  States  to  communicate 
the  number  of  protection  orders  and  data  relevant  to 
those orders, including those given to victims of gender-
based violence (2).

Directives  2011/36/EU  and  2011/92/EU  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 and 13 De-
cember 2011 on combating trafficking in human beings (3) 
and on sexual abuse of children (4), both encourage Mem-
ber States to create data collection methods and produce 
comparable statistics.

The European Commission communication on eliminat-
ing female genital mutilation sets out a list of measures 
to  combat  the  practice,  including  challenges  related  to 
under-reporting and the collection of data on prevalence 
and risk (European Commission, 2013).

The EU and the Istanbul Convention

The  Council  of  Europe  Convention  on  preventing  and 
combating  violence  against  women  and  domestic  vio-
lence (Istanbul Convention) covers a broad range of meas-
ures, ranging from obligations such as awareness-raising 

(1)  OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p.57.

(2)  OJ L 338, 21.12.2011, p.2. 
(3)  OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p.1.
(4)  OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, p.1.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

21

2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

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and  data  collection,  to  legal  measures  on  criminalising 
different forms of violence.

Article 11 of the Istanbul Convention calls on state parties 
to ‘collect disaggregated relevant statistical data at regu-
lar intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by 
the scope of the Convention’, namely rape and intimate 
partner  violence  (Council  of  Europe,  2011a).  While  the 
Istanbul  Convention  does  not  explicitly  cover  femicide, 
the  Grevio  (the  independent  expert  body  responsible 
for  monitoring  the  implementation  of  the  Convention) 
questionnaire requests that state parties provide admin-
istrative and judicial data on, among others, the number 
of  deaths  and  attempted  murders  of  women  (Council 
of  Eur ope,  2016:15).  State  parties  are  recommended  to 
provide,  at  a  minimum,  the  following  information  on 
these  forms  of  violence:  sex,  age,  type  of  violence,  vic-
tim–perpetrator  relationship,  geographical  location  and 
other factors that state parties wish to include (Council of 
Europe, 2011b). These categories are also included in the 
Grevio questionnaire.

As  of  16  January  2017,  all  Member  States  have  signed 
the Istanbul Convention individually and 14 have ratified 
it.  On  11  May  2017,  the  Council  of  the  European  Union 
adopted two decisions on the signing of the convention 
by the EU itself, followed by the signing by the Commis-
sioner on 13 June. EU accession to the Istanbul Conven-
tion, once ratified, compels all Member States to collect 
and send accurate and comparable data from administra-
tive sources and population surveys to Eurostat.

Eurostat’s mandate on the consolidation of 
crime statistics

Eurostat  compiles  and  consolidates  crime  and  criminal 
justice  data  from  Member  States.  Along  with  national 
statistical institutes, Eurostat is part of the European Stat-
istical System (ESS), which is responsible for developing, 
producing and disseminating European statistics, and is 
regulated under EU law, Regulation (EC) 223/2009 of the 
European Parliament and the Council (5). In addition, the 
ESS coordinates with international organisations and has 
partnerships with other countries.

The European Statistical Programme 2013-2017 was estab-
lished  by  Regulation  (EU)  99/2013  of  the  European  Parlia-
ment and the Council (6) and provides the framework for 
the development, production and dissemination of Euro-
pean statistics, including the main fields and objectives en-
visaged, for a period of up to 5 years. The handling of Euro-
pean statistics is subject to the requirements of Article 338 
of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union 
and Article 11 of the European Statistics Code of Practice.

So far, the European Commission has adopted two statis-
tics action plans: action plan 2006-2010 and action plan 
2011-2015  to  develop  a  strategy  to  measure  crime  and 
criminal justice (European Commission, 2011). To improve 
the quality of data one objective of the first action plan 
was to decrease the level of aggregation and increase the 
list of crimes. Another was to introduce demographic var-
iables (such as sex, nationality and age group) where ap-
propriate, for example in the annual publication of data 
on crime and criminal justice Statistics in Focus.

In addition to crime and criminal justice data (including 
the offences of rape, sexual violence and homicide), Euro-
stat  consolidates  data  on  causes  of  death.  This  data  is 
collected  within  a  regulatory  framework  of  community 
statistics on public health and health and safety at work 
under  Regulation  (EU)328/2011  of  the  European  Parlia-
ment and the Council (7). The categorisation of the causes 
of death follows the 10th revision of the International Stat-
istical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Prob-
lems  (ICD-10).  However,  the  regulation  does  not  oblige 
Member States to provide detailed data for each of the 
codes, but instead only for groups of codes. Nor does it 
oblige Member States to report on the specific code indi-
cating the victim-perpetrator relationship.

Eurostat–UNODC data consolidation on rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence

Since 2014, the data on crime and criminal justice has been 
compiled  in  a  collaboration  between  Eurostat  and  the 
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The 
joint Eurostat–UNODC data compilation system is the only 
EU-wide  coordinated  compilation  of  administrative  data 

(5)  OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p.164.

(6)  OJ L 39, 9.2.2013, p.12.
(7)  OJ L 90, 6.4.2011, p.22.

22

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

that covers certain aspects of rape, femicide and intimate 
partner violence. It follows a well-developed method ology 
and  provides  detailed  metadata  to  facilitate  the  under-
standing  of  the  figures  and  their  comparability.  While 
the  data  compiled  by  Eurostat–UNODC  is  not  sufficient 
for populating indicators on rape, femicide and intimate 
partner  violence,  any  further  EU-wide  data  compi lation 
should build on and be integrated into this approach.

Data resulting from this joint effort were published for the 
period 2008-2013 at country level for the Member States, 
members of the European Free Trade Association and EU 
candidate  and  potential  candidate  countries.  However, 
Eurostat does not publish data for EU-28 aggregates mak-
ing a trend analysis at EU level, i.e. across all EU Member 
States, impossible.

The joint Eurostat–UNODC data compilation system was 
adopted in an effort to reduce the duplication of work at 
national level, as well as to improve data quality, especial-
ly in terms of additional offence types and disaggregated 
information on the sex and age of victims and offenders. 
The data are reported by official national sources (such as 
the national statistics office, the police, the Ministry of the 
Interior  or  the  Ministry  of  Justice,  and  the  national  pris-
on  administration)  and  submitted  annually  to  Eurostat 
through a network of national correspondents.

To  further  improve  the  comparability  of  data  between 
countries, Eurostat compiles information using the crime 
categories  in  the  UN  Surveys  on  Crime  Trends  and  the 
Operations  of  Criminal  Justice  Systems  (UN-CTS)  ques-
tionnaire, together with additional questions of particular 
interest  for  EU  policy  development  (Eurostat,  2016b:10). 
The crime categories published on the Eurostat website 
are mapped according to the International Classification 
of Crime for Statistical purposes (ICCS). The ICCS does not 
use legal definitions or legal codes for criminal offences 
but makes a clear distinction between international clas-
sifications of crimes for statistical purposes, by providing 
clear  behavioural  descriptions  of  the  offences  or  acts. 
Eurostat also validates the quality and consistency of the 
data provided by Member States.

deviates  from  the  suggested  definition.  The  national 
correspondents  are  responsible  for  the  accuracy  of  the 
data provided for their respective countries, as well as for 
identifying  legal  and  statistical  changes  and  providing 
possible explanations for any variations in national trends.

To  facilitate  understanding  and  interpretation  of  the 
figures,  Eurostat’s  website  publishes  not  only  the  crime 
and  criminal  justice  data  as  reported  by  the  Member 
States,  but  also  information  about  the  methodological 
rules used in the recording of the data. 

Eurostat compiles data on different forms of violence 
against  women:  rape,  intentional  homicide  and  in-
timate  partner  violence,  outlined  in  its  crime  and 
criminal justice metadata (Eurostat, 2016a):

  Rape  is  defined  as  ‘Sexual  intercourse  without 
valid consent’ and 21 Member States (8) provide 
data in accordance with this definition.

 

Femicide  data  is  derived  from  the  intentional 
homicide  data  (available  by  age  and  sex  for 
the  numbers  of  victims  and  perpetrators). 
Intentional homicide is defined as ‘unlawful death 
purposefully  inflicted  on  a  person  by  another 
person. Data on intentional homicide should also 
include serious assault leading to death and death 
as  a  result  of  a  terrorist  attack.  It  should  exclude 
attempted  homicide,  manslaughter,  death  due 
to  legal  intervention,  justifiable  homicide  in  self-
defence  and  death  due  to  armed  conflict’.  For 
2013,  figures  on  female  victims  of  intentional 
homicide are available for 18 Member States (9).

  Data  on  intimate  partner  violence  is  limited, 
as the only data published by Eurostat disaggre-
gated by victim-perpetrator relationship and sex 
of the victim are again on intentional homicide. 
Data on female victims of intentional homicide by 
their intimate partner is available for 12 Member 
States (10) for the year 2013.

Member States are asked to provide data in line with the 
standard  definition  provided  by  Eurostat  for  statistic al 
purposes,  and  to  mention  any  deviation  from  the  def-
inition.  Eurostat  highlights  where  Member  States’  data 

(8)  For readability, the listing of Member States are provided in footnotes if 

the total number exceeds more than three Member States. 
BG, CZ, DK, EE, EL, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, UK.
(9)  BG, CZ, DE, EE, EL, ES, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, AT, SI, FI, UK_E&W, 

UK_NI, UK-SC.

(10)  CZ, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, SI, FI, UK_E&W, UK_SC.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

23

 
2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

The ICCS does not include a specific tag for the victim–
perpetrator relationship, which would allow for cases 
of intimate partner violence to be identified. However, 
according to the questionnaire of the United Nations 
Surveys on Crime trends and the Operations of Crimi-
nal Justice Systems (UNODC, 2015), ‘intimate partner’ 
includes current or former intimate partner (spouse or 
ex-spouse, current or former boyfriend/girlfriend)’.

Eurostat  does  compile  data  that  is  relevant  to  in-
timate  partner  violence  in  the  form  of  attempted 
intentional  homicide,  assault  (sexual  and  physical), 
rape  and  kidnapping,  though  no  breakdowns  are 
available for these offences.

2.2.  Data collection at 
national level

Comparison  of  (Eurostat–UNODC)  data  across  Member 
States  remains  challenging  due  to  different  methods  of 
data  recording  between  Member  States  and  between 
the different sectors of the criminal justice system (police, 
prosecution and courts) at national level.

The differences in data recording refer mainly to (Eurostat, 
2016b:34):

Counting 
units

Stage of  
data 
collection

Principal  
offence  
rule

For police data, counting units are offences, 
cases, infractions or investigations.

For prosecution data, counting units are 
persons-charged (where more than one of-
fence is committed at the same time by the 
same perpetrator(s), only the most serious 
offence is recorded) or proceedings.

Police data is recorded before investigation, 
during investigation, or when the investiga-
tion is concluded.

Court data is recorded before or after appeal.

Where more than one offence is committed 
at the same time by the same perpetrator(s), 
only the most serious offence is recorded. 
When this rule is not applied, each offence is 
counted separately.

Other limitations affecting the comparability and reliabil-
ity of the data include:

 

 

 

under-reporting  of  crimes  to  the  police,  leading  to 
inaccuracy of administrative data ;

at  national  level,  different  types  of  institutions  are 
responsible  for  data  collection,  which  limits  the 
quality and completeness of the administrative data 
provided to Eurostat;

use  of  different  legal  definitions  and  changes  in 
national legislation over time.

The collection, compilation and provision of data at na-
tional  level  is  carried  out  by  different  authorities  in  dif-
ferent sectors. The next section provides an overview of 
these sectors and information on how data is collected. 
An overview of the data gaps on violence against women 
that exist in the different sectors can be found in Annex 1 
of this report and in the separate EIGE publication Gloss-
ary  of  definitions  of  rape,  femicide  and  intimate  partner 
violence,  providing  a  detailed  overview  of  the  existing 
European, international and national definitions of rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence.

2.2.1.  Police sector

What data is collected?

The police sector is the main data collector on rape and 
femicide, with data broken down by the sex of the victim. 
The  police  are  also  the  most  important  administrative 
source for data on intimate partner violence. In general, 
the  police  collect  data  on  cases  reported  to  them,  the 
investigations conducted and their outcomes. This data 
is  then  compiled  at  national  level  in  all  Member  States, 
although  not  all  use  identical  variables,  making  com-
parison at EU level difficult. Differences in national legal 
definitions  of  the  offences  included  in  intimate  partner 
violence also present a challenge to data comparison at 
EU level. However, Eurostat and the UNODC have already 
initiated  EU-wide  data  collection  on  sexual  violence 
crimes and homicide.

Police usually collect data on a large range of criminal inci-
dents, as well as information on the victim (namely the sex)  

24

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

and, in many Member States, on the victim–perpetrator 
relationship. In many countries, the latter has been intro-
duced in recent years as a variable to be collected along-
side the common classification of crimes.

Who collects it?

In the police sector, data is first recorded by the local or 
municipal  police  offices  and,  if  applicable,  at  a  higher 
level, such as regional offices. In all Member States, data 
is then compiled by a federal police authority or the Min-
istry of the Interior. In eight Member States (11), a national 
statistical institute is also responsible for compiling police 
data. In all except five Member States (12) police data on 
violence is at least partially published. However in some 
Member States (13) this data is published only by the na-
tional statistical institute.

lacks crucial information, such as the sex of the victim and 
the victim-perpetrator relationship.

Who collects it?

In eight Member States (14) data from the courts and/or 
prosecution  are  compiled  by  a  national  statistical  insti-
tute.  In  10  Member  States  (15)  data  is  (also)  compiled  by 
the  Ministry  of  Justice.  In  11  Member  States  (16)  data  is 
(also) compiled at a central level by the public prosecu-
tor’s office or similar and in nine Member States (17) data 
is gathered by a central authority of the judiciary (e.g. the 
service for Criminal Justice Policy (BE), the General Coun-
cil of the Judiciary (ES) and the Courts Service of Ireland 
(IE)).

Quality of the data?

Quality of the data?

In  many  Member  States  the  police  appear  to  have  the 
most harmonised data collection compared to other ad-
ministrative sources, as well as the most advanced quality 
assurance procedures. Nevertheless, changes in systems, 
data  collection  procedures  and  legal  definitions  cause 
breaks in time series and present an ongoing challenge 
for compilation, comparison and publication of statistical 
data.

Both  police  and  court  statistics  are  mostly  categorised 
according  to  the  typology  of  crimes  in  the  Member 
State’s Criminal Code (although other categorisation sys-
tems are also used in some cases). As with the police sec-
tor, the quality of statistical data from the justice sector 
suffers from changes in structures, institutional priorities 
and breaks in time series due to changes in legal texts. 
Data also seems to be less harmonised at national level 
due to the independence of certain institutions (for ex-
ample, different federal courts).

2.2.2.  Justice sector 

2.2.3.  Social services sector

What data is collected?

What data is collected?

Court statistics include data on the number of court cas-
es  filed,  the  number  of  convictions,  and  the  number  of 
convicted  persons.  Data  collection  in  the  justice  sector 
follows in general the same definitions and general struc-
ture  as  the  police,  though  due  to  different  institutional 
roles and structures, the data collected reflects a different 
perspective.  Data  from  the  justice  sector  is  recorded  at 
the courts and prosecution offices and while valuable, it 
tends to focus exclusively on the perpetrator and often 

Many social services offer support for women experienc-
ing intimate partner violence and are therefore a particu-
larly  important  source  of  data  on  victims  of  this  crime. 
Social  services  such  as  telephone  helplines,  women’s 
shelters  and  other  services,  are  key  institutions  (along 
with the police and hospitals) that women turn to when 
experiencing  situations  of  violence.  In  several  Member 
States initiatives have already been taken to collect and 

(11)  DK, EL, ES, IT, NL, PL, RO, UK.
(12)  BG, IE, HU, AT, SE.
(13)  EL, NL, RO, FI, UK.

(14)  DE, EL, IT, HU, NL, AT, RO, SI.
(15)  CZ, EE, FR, HR, IT, LU, NL, PL, SK, UK.
(16)  BE, BG, EL, ES, FI, HU, PL, RO, SE, SK, UK.
(17)  BE, IE, ES, HU, LV, LT, NL, RO, SE.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

25

2.  EU FRAMEWORK OF DATA COLLECTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

compile nationally comparable data from these sources, 
and to improve the data quality.

training, guidelines, cross-checks and audits of data) are 
not as systematic as in the police and justice sectors.

2.2.4.  Health sector

What data is collected?

Unlike  other  sectors,  the  health  sector  uses  standard 
medical definitions and diagnoses, which could provide 
a  valuable  source  of  comparable  data  across  countries. 
Databases using the International Statistical Classification 
of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) codes 
(particularly for external causes of mortality and injuries) 
can provide harmonised data related to violence against 
women.  However,  this  sector  remains  considerably  un-
der-exploited in terms of data collection. Member States 
differ in terms of health systems and the populations cov-
ered by their health institutions’ statistics.

Who collects it?

All Member States that reported centralised data collec-
tion  on  violence  against  women  have  either  a  national 
institute  or  national  board  on  (public)  health  that  is  re-
sponsible for centralising data collection, with the excep-
tion of Spain where a specific Commission on gender vio-
lence is responsible. In the cases of several sources from 
the health sector, errors were reported in data recording. 
These relate mainly to the lack of staff training, or to time 
pressures.

Quality

Data  from  the  health  sector  remains  unpublished  in 
many  Member  States.  This  is  likely  due  to  stricter  data 
protection rules than in other sectors, as well as a lack of 
centralised compilation of national data that come from 
the different health institutions.

Who collects it?

In the social services sector, the authorities or institutions 
responsible for collecting data on violence against wom-
en at national level vary greatly. In four Member States (18), 
a  Ministry  (of  Health,  Social  Policy,  Labour  or  related)  is 
responsible  for  central  data  compilation,  while  the  re-
maining countries all have a national agency, association 
or  network  of  social  services  (or  similar),  responsible  for 
data collection.

Quality of the data?

Data from social services have several important quality 
limitations.  The  accuracy  and  reliability  of  data  from  in-
dividual  social  services  centres  is  likely  to  be  limited,  as 
victims may turn to various organisations (creating issues 
of  double-logging),  and  these  data  are  not  aggregated 
across organisations. Though internal reliability and accu-
racy may be good within individual institutions, aggrega-
tion at a national level seems to be uncoordinated. With 
many different types of social services operating, some of 
which only exist in certain regions and others that only 
cover a very specific target group (e.g. migrant women), 
the data is not reliably encapsulating the entire country. 
Consequently, the figures cannot be taken as accurate for 
the purpose of international comparison. Only two Mem-
ber States (EL, NL) have national guidelines and clear rules 
in place for data recording across the various institutions 
in the social services sector. The lack of  national  guide-
lines may mean that data is recorded inconsistently.

Data entries often depend on the information provided 
by  victims,  who  tend  to  have  a  high  level  of  non-re-
sponse. This results in problems with the standardisation 
of information for statistical purposes.

Social  support  services  use  a  wide  range  of  definitions 
of  the  forms  of  violence,  creating  a  challenge  in  terms 
of data comparability and quality assurance procedures 
at  the  data  recording  and  data  processing  stages  (staff 

(18)  ES, HU, PL, SI.

26

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

3. DEFINING VIOLENCE 
AGAINST WOMEN

3. 

 DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST 
WOMEN

3.1.  Glossary of definitions

To  develop  definitions  of  violence  against  women  that 
reflect  as  far  as  possible  international  standards  and 
Member  States’  reality,  existing  definitions  at  European, 
International and national level were reviewed.

The complete listing of existing definitions of rape, femi-
cide and intimate partner violence is published in EIGE’s 
Glossary of definitions of rape, femicide and intimate partner 
violence  available  on  EIGE’s  website  under  the  ‘Publica-
tions’ web section (EIGE, 2017a).

This analysis of definitions of rape, femicide and intimate partner violence considered two types of definitions:

 

 

legal definitions of the offences: what constitutes an offence by law;

statistical definitions: what is actually measured by the data, and can take the form of classifications, coding 
or a sum of the unit of measurements.

The majority of national administrative data sources use their legal definitions as the reference definitions for data 
collection, particularly in the police and justice sectors. In some cases, statistical definitions are used to define a form 
of violence that is not explicitly defined in the legislation; for example, intimate partner violence may be specifically 
defined by guidelines for the purposes of data collection, where it is not a standalone offence in the legislation.

Differences in legal and statistical definitions of forms of violence hinder the collection of comparable data on vio-
lence against women across the EU. Although a consistent legal and regulatory framework across Member States, 
with comparable legal definitions, would greatly facilitate the collection of comparable data, it is not a prerequisite. 
Establishing common statistical definitions (categories and definitions used for data collection and classification 
of information) would allow for the extent of violence to be measured in a systematic and comparable manner.

3.2.  Common components 

in existing definitions

The  review  of  European,  international  and  Member 
States’ definitions led to the selection of common com-
ponents (specific elements that characterise legal defini-
tions)  for  rape,  femicide  and  intimate  partner  violence. 

Components of definitions were selected based on inter-
national, European and national components, compara-
bility and relevance.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

29

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

Table 2: List of selected components of the definitions per type of violence

Rape

Femicide

Intimate partner violence

•  Use of force, coercion or deceit
Taking advantage of vulnerability
• 
• 
Lack of consent
•  Vaginal intercourse
•  Other forms of penetration (anal, 

oral, or other)
•  Use of an object
•  Use of other body parts for the 

penetration

•  Marital/Intimate relationship rape as 

an aggravating circumstance
Forced sterilisation

• 

Intentional killing

• 
•  Gender-based act and/or killing of 

women

•  Killing of partner/spouse
•  Death of women resulting from 

• 

intimate partner violence
Female genital mutilation-related 
death

•  Death related to unsafe abortion
•  Honour killing
• 
Female foeticide
•  Dowry-related death

•  Physical violence
• 
Sexual violence
•  Psychological violence
Economic violence
• 
•  Other constituent elements of inti-

mate partner violence

3.3.  Rape

3.3.1.   European and international 

definitions of rape

At  international  level,  the  European  Court  for  Human 
Rights  (ECHR)  and  the  International  Criminal  Tribunal 
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Rome Statute’s 
Elements  of  Crimes  (International  Criminal  Court,  2011) 
provide  the  most  comprehensive  reflections  on  the  el-
ements  of  rape.  They  consider  consent  to  be  the  most 
important component of the definition of rape. Accord-
ingly, consent must be given voluntarily, ‘as a result of the 
victim’s free will, assessed in the context of the surround-
ing  circumstances’  and  must,  therefore,  be  considered 
according to ‘factors [other than force] which would ren-
der an act of sexual penetration non-consensual or non-
voluntary on the part of the victim’ (Prosecutor v. Kunarac, 
Kovac  and  Vucovic,  2001).  The  ICCS,  on  the  other  hand, 
distinguishes between rape with force and rape without 
force. The Istanbul Convention does not refer to the use 
of  force  within  its  definition  but  instead  focuses  on  the 
lack of consent in engaging in sexual penetration (Coun-
cil of Europe, 2011a).

A  number  of  debates  exist  when  it  comes  to  defining 
rape,  in  particular,  the  forms  rape  can  take,  the  body 
parts involved, the use of an object or not, and how the 
absence of consent is expressed. One of the challenges 
of defining rape lies in the boundary between rape and 
other  forms  of  sexual  violence.  Some  acts,  such  as  the 
use of objects or body parts, and abuse related to orifices 
other  than  vaginal,  are  considered  sexual  abuse  under 
some  definitions  but  are  considered  rape  under  others. 
The elements of lack of consent and use of force seem to 
be central to the definition of rape (UN, 2008:11). Howev-
er, definitions may differ in their requirement to demon-
strate the use of force, with coercive circumstances being 
sufficient in some cases.

It  is  important  at  this  stage  to  acknowledge  the  limita-
tions of the current common components of rape, as they 
omit  the  power  relations  embedded  in  gender-based 
violence.  The  analysis  conducted  in  this  report  reflects 
what is feasible at this moment at EU level: harmonisation 
of definitions as a minimum standard towards more com-
parable and ultimately more gender-sensitive definitions.

30

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Table 3: Main European and international definition elements for rape

Lack of 
consent

Use of 
force or 
threat

European Sourcebook of 
Crime and Criminal Justice 
Statistics (HEUNI)
Eurostat
EU-wide survey (FRA)
Istanbul Convention (CoE)
European Court of Human 
Rights
Parliamentary Assembly 
(CoE)
Statistical Guidelines on 
Violence against Women 
(UN)
CEDAW Committee
World Health Organisation 
(WHO)
Rome Statute’s Elements 
of Crimes
International Criminal 
Tribunal for the former 
Yugoslavia (ICTY)
International Classifica-
tion of Crime for Statistical 
Purposes (ICCS)

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

No use of force 
(e.g. deceit, no 
requirement of 
resistance)

With a helpless 
person only

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

Sexual 
intercourse

Penetration 
other than 
vaginal

Use 
of an 
object

Use of 
body 
parts

√

√
√
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√
√

Implicit
√

√

Implicit

Implicit

Implicit

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

Implicit

Implicit

3.3.2.  National definitions of rape

Rape is defined at national level, however, the specifics of 
the definitions vary between Member States, particularly in 
relation to the nature of the act and the circumstances of 
lack of consent. This section examines whether each of the 
components of rape are reflected in the national definitions.

Use of force, coercion, threat or deceit

The majority of Member States explicitly identify the use 
of force (19), coercion (20) or threat (21) as a key element in 
the definition of rape (see Annex 2). The exception is the 

United Kingdom, which uses the term ‘intentionally pen-
etrates’, which, together with the requirement of lack of 
consent, implies a forceful act (Sexual Offences Act, 2003). 
Use of force is often the corollary of the ‘lack of consent’ 
component. The use of force implies the lack of consent, 
while lack of consent may be the result of the use of force. 
The  component  ‘deceit’  is  included  in  the  definition  of 
rape in 12 Member States (22).

Lack of consent

This component is present in the legal definitions of rape 
in all Member States. However, only 10 Member States (23), 
explicitly refer to lack of consent in their definition of rape. 

(19)  BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, 

PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE.

(20)  BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, 

RO, SI, SK, FI, SE.

(22)  BE, BG, DE, IT, CY (restricted, applies only to a married women raped 
by a man impersonating her husband), LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE.

(21)  BE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, AT, PL, PT, Sl, FI.

(23)  BE, BG, DE, IE, HR, CY, LV, LT, LU, UK.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

31

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

For  the  other  18  Member  States,  the  element  of  lack  of 
consent is implicitly derived from the component of use 
of force (24) and in three of these states (IT, HU and PL) is 
also covered by the courts’ interpretation (25).

Taking advantage of vulnerabilities

Twenty-one  Member  States’  (26)  definitions  explicitly  in-
clude taking advantage of vulnerabilities as a key element 
leading  to,  and  sometimes  inducing,  a  presumption  of 
lack  of  consent  (see  Annex  3).  Five  Member  States  (27) 
consider it to be an aggravating circumstance. Only two 
Member States (CY, AT) do not include this component, 
even as an aggravating circumstance.

Sexual intercourse (vaginal intercourse)

As  it  is  a  core  element  of  rape,  all  Member  States’  def-
initions of rape include sexual intercourse, although the 
terms used vary slightly (see Annex 4). Some use the term 
‘coitus’  (e.g.  CZ,  AT),  some  ‘sexual  intercourse’  (e.g.  PL, 
Fl,  SE)  and  others  (sexual)  ‘penetration’  (e.g.  BE,  ES,  FR).  
Cyprus and Malta use the term ‘carnal knowledge’.

Other forms of penetration (other than vaginal)

Member States differ in their approaches to this component, 
either  explicitly  including  other  forms  of  penetration  in 
their definition, or incorporating such forms through court 
interpretation.  Ten  Member  States  (28)  include  ‘any  form 
of  penetration’  in  their  definitions.  Twenty-four  Member 
States’ (29) definitions specifically include anal penetration 
and  21  Member  States’  (30)  include  oral  penetration.  In 
Cyprus and Malta, oral penetration is not considered rape. 
In four Member States (31) other forms of penetration are 
not covered; instead, they fall under other sexual crimes, 

(24)  CZ, DK, EE, EL, ES, FR, IT, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE.
(25)  In  Hungary,  the  lack  of  consent  and  the  victim’s  serious  resistance 
are considered key elements of the crime. For the Polish courts, ‘lack 
of consent’ does not refer solely to the act of sexual intercourse, but, 
rather, when penalising rape, they also interpret lack of consent to 
include the time, place and form of the sexual intercourse.

(26)  BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK.
(27)  IE, ES, FR, NL, PL.
(28)  BE, DE, FR, HR, IT, LU, NL, PL, FI, SE.
(29)  BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, 

SI, FI, SE, UK.

(30)  BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE, 

UK.

(31)  BG, LV, LT, SK.

i.e. ‘sexual violence’ in Latvia and Slovakia, ‘sexual assault’ 
in Lithuania, and ‘debauchery’ in Bulgaria.

Use of an object

Twenty  Member  States  (32)  include  ‘use  of  an  object’  in 
their definition of rape; three of these (ES, IE, PT) expli citly 
refer to the use of an object for sexual penetration; three 
(BE, FR, LU) implicitly include the use of an object by using 
the wording: any act of sexual penetration ‘regardless of 
the nature’; and the other 14 Member States (33) cover ‘use 
of an object’ through interpretation. The Czech supreme 
court specified that those objects must ‘imitate the move-
ments  of  the  penis  in  the  woman’s  vagina,  alternatively 
other  manner  of  comparable  use  of  objects  to  serve  as 
substitutes for male and female sexual organs’ (Supreme 
Court of the Czech Republic, 2015). According to the inter-
pretation of the Finnish courts, penetration can be with an 
object if it is directed at a sex organ of another (Oikeusmin-
isteriön Oikeuspoliittinen tutkimuslaitos, 2012:25).

Use of body parts other than male genital organ

This component is similar to use of an object, but entails the 
use of the offender’s body parts for the sexual act. Twenty 
Member  States  (34)  include  ‘use  of  body  parts  other  than 
male genital organ for the penetration’ as a component of 
their definition of rape. Only two Member States explicitly 
refer to ‘penetration of body parts’ (PT) and ‘inserting body 
parts’ (ES). The broader category of ‘any means whatsoever’, 
used by Belgium and Luxembourg, also covers body parts. 
In six Member States (35), insertion of a finger into the vagina 
is included in the definition of rape through the courts’ in-
terpretation. For the eight Member States (36) that do not in-
clude this component in their definition of rape, a restrictive 
definition is implied (BG and UK: only penetration by male 
genital organ) or it may fall under other sexual acts.

Marital and/or intimate relationship rape restrictions

Marital or intimate relationship rape is included as an aggra-
vating circumstance in 13 Member States’ (37) definitions.

(32)  BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE.
(33)  CZ, DE, EE, EL, HR, LT, HU, NL, AT, PL, RO, SI, FI, SE.
(34)  BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE.
(35)  CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, AT.
(36)  BG, CY, IE, LT, LV, MT, SK, UK.
(37)  BE, EE, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LU, HU, MT, SI, SK.

32

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Forced sterilisation

None  of  the  Member  States  include  this  component 
within  their  definition  of  rape,  either  in  the  legislation 
or in its interpretation by the courts. Forced sterilisation 
may  be  prosecuted  under  the  offence  of  ‘injury’  and 
in  some  Member  States  (e.g.  ES,  IT)  it  is  an  aggravating 
circumstance  of  this  specific  offence.  In  other  Member 
States, forced sterilisation (e.g. PL, SE) or illegal sterilisation 
(e.g. SK) are separate offences.

Other  components  frequently  covered  by  the  national 
definitions  of  rape  include:  use  of  force  (27  Member 
States),  taking  advantage  of  vulnerabilities  (26  Member 
States),  anal  penetration  (24  Member  States),  use  of  an 
object (20 Member States) and use of other body parts 
(20 Member States).

3.4.  Femicide

3.4.1.   European and International 
definitions of femicide

3.3.3.  Summary

All Member States have a specific offence of rape or sex-
ual violence. Some components clearly emerged as core 
elements  of  the  definition  of  rape  across  the  Member 
States. Vaginal intercourse and lack of consent are cover-
ed by all 28 Member States’ definitions, either explicitly or 
implicitly. The definition of rape used by Eurostat, ‘sexual 
intercourse  without  valid  consent’,  includes  only  those 
two components.

Across  international  institutions,  several  terms  are  used 
to  refer  to  femicide,  including  ‘feminicide’,  ‘gendercide’, 
‘intimate  partner  homicide’  and  ‘gender-related  killing 
of women and girls’ (UN, 2012:4; UN, 2011; UNODC 2014b; 
Corradi  et  al.,  2014:601).  International  sources  often  in-
clude lists of types of femicide, although these may not 
all apply directly to the European context (e.g. the killing 
of aboriginal and indigenous women and dowry-related 
killings of women).

Table 4: Main European and international definition elements for femicide

r
e
d
n
e
g
n
o
d
e
s
a
B

√

√

√

√

√

√

l
a
n
o
i
t
n
e
t
n

I

g
n

i
l
l
i
k

European Parliament
European Sourcebook 
of Crime and Criminal 
Justice Statistics (HEUNI)
Eurostat
Parliamentary  
Assembly (CoE)
Vienna Declaration 
on Femicide (UN)
World Health  
Organisation (WHO)
Special Rapporteur 
on Violence against 
Women (UN)
High Commissioner  
for Human Rights (UN)
International 
Classification of Crimes 
for Statistical Purposes

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

f
o
t
x
e
t
n
o
C

f
o
m
u
u
n
i
t
n
o
c

e
c
n
e
o
i
v

l

f
o
n
o
i
t
i
s
o
P

,

i

n
o
i
t
a
n
d
r
o
b
u
s

n
o
i
t
a
s
i
l
a
n
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r
a
m

i

k
s
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r
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n
a

n
e
m
o
w

f
o
g
n

i
l
l
i

K

r
o
s
r
e
n
t
r
a
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x
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e
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f
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a
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f
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i
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K

l
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l

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r
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-
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U

h
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d
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r
-
y
r

w
o
D

h
t
a
e
d

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

33

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

3.4.2.  National definitions of femicide

As femicide is not defined in any Member State, the defin-
itions of homicide — in particular in the context of intim-
ate partner violence — have instead been reviewed (38). 
Femicide data can be identified as intentional homicides 
with the disaggregation ‘sex of victim’ (‘female’), ‘relation-
ship with perpetrator’ (‘partner or ex-partner’) and ‘moti-
vation’ (‘gender-based’) (UN, 2015b:6).

Intentional killing

Intentional  killing  is  a  component  of  the  definition 
of  homicide  in  24  Member  States  (39).  Four  Member 
States  (40),  do  not  include  this  component  in  their  def-
initions.  A  number  of  Member  States  (41)  differentiate 
between ‘intentional homicide’ and ‘involuntary’ or ‘neg-
ligent’ homicide.

maximum term of the penalty set by law is increased by 
one quarter (Criminal Code, Art. 199).

Deaths of women resulting from intimate partner 
violence

Only  five  Member  States  (45)  include  this  component  in 
the definition of homicide, in the form of an aggravating 
circumstance. In Slovakia, it is covered under the offence 
of  intimate  partner  violence  as  an  aggravating  circum-
stance (Slovakian Criminal Code, Section 208). Twenty-five 
Member States provide homicide data disaggregated by 
victim–perpetrator  relationship,  which  can  indicate  the 
potential  presence  of  intimate  partner  violence,  despite 
the fact that such data also includes homicide unrelated 
to intim ate partner violence (46).

Female genital mutilation-related death

Gender-based acts and/or killing of women by men

Only six Member States’ (42) definitions of homicide refer 
to this component, in the form of an aggravating circum-
stance if the crime was based on hatred of the victim due 
his/her gender/sex. In some Member States (43), an aggra-
vating circumstance exists if the offence was committed 
against a pregnant woman.

While  death  relating  to  female  genital  mutilation  does 
not  fall  under  the  homicide  definition  in  any  Member 
State,  or  as  an  aggravating  circumstance,  nine  Member 
States  (47)  include  it  as  a  distinct  and  separate  offence. 
Data on female genital mutilation-related death offences 
could be compiled together with data on other offences 
(i.e. intimate partner homicide data) in order to compile 
femicide data encompassing a wider range of acts.

Killing of a current or former spouse/partner

Death related to unsafe abortions

Only  seven  Member  States  (44)  include  the  killing  of  an 
individual by a spouse or partner in their legal defin itions 
of  homicide.  For  these  countries,  the  inclusion  takes 
the  form  of  an  aggravating  circumstance.  For  example, 
in  Portugal,  the  murder  of  a  spouse  or  former  spouse 
is  considered  ‘qualified  murder’,  which  means  that  the 
penalty  of  imprisonment  is  12  to  25  years  instead  of  8 
to 16 years (Criminal Code, Art 132). In Romania, if a mur-
der  is  committed  against  a  family  member,  the  special 

While  death  connected  to  unsafe  abortion  does  not 
fall under the homicide definition in any Member State, 
including  as  an  aggravating  circumstance,  14  Member 
States (48) include it as a distinct and separate offence. As 
with female genital mutilation-related death, data on this 
offence could also be compiled together with other of-
fences and included in femicide data.

(38)  Annex  5:  Overview  of  the  femicide  components  in  the  Member 

States’ definitions.

(39)  BE, BG, CZ, DE (Implicit), EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, NL, 

AT, PL, PT, RO, SK, SE (Implicit), UK.

(40)  DK, MT, SI, FI.
(41)  BE, ES, IT, LT, PL.
(42)  BE, EE, EL, ES, PT, SI.
(43)  BE, BG, CZ, LT.
(44)  DK, ES, FR, LV, LT, PT, RO.

34

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

(45)  BE, EE, ES, HR, IT.
(46)  BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, 

SI, SK, FI, SE, UK (see Annex 9).
(47)  BE, DK, FR, IT, CY, LU, NL, PL, SK.
(48)  BE, DE, EL, HR, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, AT, RO, SI, SK, SE.

EIGE

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Honour killing — female foeticide —  
dowry-related death

The components of so-called honour killing of women, 
female foeticide and dowry-related death have also been 
reviewed across national definitions of homicide. Howev-
er, no Member States define those acts, either within their 
definitions of homicide or as distinct offences.

3.4.3.  Summary

Intentional killing is present in most Member States’ legal 
definitions,  although  limited  to  the  killing  of  the  person 
(homicide)  rather  than  linked  to  gender-based  motives. 
Few  Member  States  provide  for  aggravating  circum-
stances  in  case  of  gender-motivated  killing  (six  Member 
States),  killing  by  a  partner  or  spouse  (seven  Member 
States), or death in the context of intimate partner violence 
(five  Member  States).  The  components  of  death  related 
to  unsafe  abortion  and  female  genital  mutilation-related 
death are separate offences in a number of Member States.

The  nature  and  availability  of  data  on  femicide  varies 
widely across Europe, not only in the type of data (e.g. 
perpetrator  versus  victim  statistics/court  information 
versus  police  data),  but  also  in  the  years  covered  and 
the  availability  of  information  beyond  pure  incidence 
numbers.  These  factors,  as  well  as  the  different  legal 
definitions of homicide in Member States, prevent dir-
ect  comparison  of  data  across  countries.  While  most 
Member  States’  definitions  do  not  include  gender  as-
pects  of  killing,  all  Member  States  collect  data  on  the 
sex  of  homicide  victims.  Twenty-five  Member  States 
provide  homicide  data  disaggregated  by  victim–per-
petrator relationship, which can provide a useful basis 
for femicide data.

3.5.  Intimate partner violence

3.5.1.   European and international definitions 

of intimate partner violence

The term intimate partner violence is not systematically 
defined  at  international  level  and  is  often  described  as 
falling within the scope of domestic violence. The Istan-
bul  Convention  provides  a  comprehensive  definition  of 
domestic violence as relating to all acts of physical, sex-
ual, psychological or economic violence that occur with-
in the family (or domestic unit — inter-generational vio-
lence), or between former or current spouses or partners 
(intimate partner violence), whether or not the perpetra-
tor shares or has shared the same residence with the vic-
tim, placing the difference within the victim-perpetrator 
relationship (Council of Europe, 2011b:3).

The  World  Health  Organisation  (WHO)  has  put  forward 
the  most  comprehensive  definition  of  intimate  part-
ner violence. Its definition includes physical, sexual, and 
emotional  abuse,  as  well  as  controlling  behaviours,  and 
provides examples of the types of indicators for each ele-
ment. While the WHO recognises the psychological elem-
ent  to  intimate  partner  violence,  its  research  on  preva-
lence examines only the physical and sexual aspects, on 
the basis that there are no agreed standard measures of 
emotional/psychological  partner  violence.  Such  agree-
ment,  together  with  a  definition  of  psychological/emo-
tional  abuse/violence  would  greatly  facilitate  collation 
and comparison of data.

The  Istanbul  Convention  Explanatory  Report  also  adds 
economic violence as an indicator of intimate partner vio-
lence, although there is little systematic data to measure 
this (Council of Europe, 2011b:40).

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

35

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

Table 5: Main European and international definition elements for intimate partner violence

Definition 
of intimate 
partner 
violence

Intimate partner 
violence covered 
within scope 
of domestic 
violence

EIGE
EU-wide survey (FRA)
Istanbul Convention  
and Explanatory 
Report (CoE)
World Health  
Organisation (WHO)
UNODC
Unicef
World Bank
Guidelines for 
producing statistics 
on Violence against 
Women (UN)

√

√

√

√

√

√

√
√

Specific components of  
intimate partner violence definition

Physical 
violence

Sexual 
violence

√

√

√

√
√
√

√

√

√

√

√
√
√

√

Psychological 
and emotional 
violence
√

√

√

√
√

√

Controlling 
behaviour

Economic 
coercion

√

√

√

√

√

3.5.2.   National definitions of intimate 

partner violence

In the police and justice sectors, intimate partner violence 
data  collection  is  predominantly  based  on  legal  defin-
itions.  The  main  components  of  intimate  partner  vio-
lence covered in the legal definitions of Member States 
include physical violence, psychological violence, sexual 
violence,  and,  to  a  lesser  extent,  economic  violence  by 
a current or former intimate partner (see Annex 6).

The following section provides an overview of the four types 
of intimate partner violence (physical, psychological, sexual 
and economic) and the analysis is structured according to 
the different definitions used in Member States: (1) a specific 
legal definition of intimate partner violence exists, (2) a spe-
cific statistical definition is used, (3) intimate partner violence 
is referring to domestic or family violence or (4) no specific 
definition for intimate partner violence is present.

Physical violence

Only Spain and Sweden have adopted a legal definition 
of  intimate  partner  violence  as  a  distinct  offence.  In  or-
der  to  identify  the  components  of  the  legal  definitions 

of domestic violence, therefore, the offences which con-
stitute  intimate  partner  violence  have  been  analysed 
together with the statistical definitions of both intimate 
partner  violence  and  domestic  violence.  This  approach 
shows that physical violence is reflected in the definitions 
of all 28 Member States.

Specific legal definition of intimate partner violence

Sweden has an offence termed ‘gross violation of a woman’s 
integrity’,  which  specifically  covers  violence  within  an  in-
timate  partnership.  The  offence  is  defined  as  the  acts  (in-
cluding  sexual  crimes,  crimes  against  life  and  health,  and 
against  liberty  and  peace)  ‘committed  by  a  man  against 
a woman to whom he is, or has been, married or with whom 
he is, or has been, cohabiting under circumstances compa-
rable to marriage’ (Ministry of Justice Bra, 2016). The Swedish 
legal definition of intimate partner violence includes physi-
cal  violence  insofar  as  it  relates  to  other  criminal  offences, 
such as bodily injury, gross assault and deprivation of liberty.

The Spanish legislation offers a legal definition of gender 
violence,  as  intimate  partner  violence  encompassing  all 
acts  of  physical  and  psychological  violence,  including 
offences against sexual liberty, threats, coercion and the 
arbitrary  deprivation  of  liberty  (Organic  Law,  1/2004).  In 

36

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

addition, the Spanish Criminal Code includes a core provi-
sion for domestic violence that applies to the physical or 
mental violence that happens habitually in the context of 
a family relationship (Criminal Code, Art.173/2). However, 
the Criminal Code does not specify the type of physical 
violence covered. Economic violence is seen as a form of 
mental violence (Criminal Code, Art 226).

In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  cross-government  defini-
tion  of  domestic  violence  is:  ‘any  incident  or  pattern  of 
incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, 
violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who 
are, or have been, intimate partners or family members 
regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encom-
pass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, 
financial and emotional’ (Home Office, 2013).

Specific statistical definitions of intimate partner 
violence or domestic violence

Domestic or family violence legal offences

Statistical definitions of intimate partner violence in Bel-
gium,  Estonia,  France,  the  Netherlands  and  the  United 
Kingdom refer specifically to physical violence.

In Estonia, the police template for data collection enables 
a  choice  between  physical  abuse,  sexual  abuse,  mental 
abuse, no abuse, and threat with a weapon, when docu-
menting intimate partner violence cases.

In  France,  the  Ministry  of  Justice  factsheet  defines  the 
crime  of  intimate  partner  violence  as  follows:  ‘the  vio-
lence committed against a spouse or cohabitant within 
a couple, married or not, in registered partnership, or sim-
ply  living  together,  or  even  separated.  Intimate  partner 
violence may be associated with psychological abuse (of-
fensive  words,  threats,  and  shouts),  physical  abuse  (bat-
tery  and  assault)  or  sexual  abuse  (sexual  assault,  rape)’ 
(Ministère de la Justice, 2012).

In Belgium, a circular applicable to the police and the Pros-
ecution Office defines domestic violence as ‘any form of 
physical (e.g. intentional assault and battery), sexual (e.g. 
molestation and rape), psychological (e.g. stalking and in-
sults) or economic violence (e.g. abandonment of family) 
between spouses or persons who live together, or who 
have lived together, and between whom a stable emo-
tional and sexual relationship exists or existed’ (Ministère 
Public, 2006).

In  the  Netherlands,  the  Guidelines  for  the  Police  and 
Prosecution  define  domestic  violence  as 
‘violence 
committed  by  someone  in  the  family  circle  of  the  vic-
tim’  (Openbaar  Ministerie,  2010).  This  includes  phys-
ical  and  sexual  violence,  stalking  and  threats  (whether 
through, or accompanied by, damage to goods in and 
around the house).

Where intimate partner violence is recognised only within 
the context of violence in the family or domestic violence, 
physical  violence  between  intimate  partners  is  a  core 
component. In Cyprus, for example, violence in the family 
means ‘any act, omission or behaviour which causes phys-
ical, sexual or mental injury to any member of the family 
by another member of the family’ (Law on violence in the 
family, 2000/2004).

Some Member States’ provisions on violence in the family 
refer broadly to ‘all forms of violence perpetrated against 
a member of his/her own family or partner’, for example 
in Italy (Criminal Code, Art. 572).

In Malta, the offence of ‘domestic violence’ relates to any 
act  of  violence,  including  verbal,  and  also  includes  any 
omission  which  causes  physical  or  moral  harm  to  the 
other (Domestic Violence Act, 2006).

In the United Kingdom, the offence of domestic violence 
refers to: ‘any incident of threatening behaviour, violence 
or  abuse  (psychological,  physical,  sexual,  financial  or 
emotional)  between  adults  who  are,  or  have  been,  in-
timate partners or family members, regardless of gender 
or sexuality’ (Domestic violence act, 2004).

In  Romania,  the  legal  provision  on  domestic  violence 
specifies that physical violence includes assault or battery 
through pushing, blows, hair pulling, slapping, slashing, 
burning,  choking,  and  biting  with  any  intensity  (Family 
Violence Act, 2003).

In Slovenia, the provision on ‘family violence’ specifies that 
such treatment may include beating or direct attack on life 
or limb, among other elements (Criminal Code, Art. 170).

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

37

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

No specific intimate partner violence or  
domestic violence offence

Specific statistical definitions of intimate partner 
violence or domestic violence

The statistical definitions used in Belgium, Estonia, France, 
the Netherlands and the United Kingdom all refer specif-
ically to psychological violence. In Estonia and the United 
Kingdom, this psychological violence is not limited to any 
specific act. In Belgium, France and the Netherlands, the 
component is limited to existing related criminal offenc-
es, such as harassment or stalking.

Domestic or family violence

Where Member States’ legal provisions define domestic 
violence, many refer to psychological violence. In France, 
this  includes  offensive  words,  threats  and  shouts  (Vio-
lence  against  women,  violence  within  the  couple  and 
consequences  on  children  Act  (2010).  In  Romania,  psy-
chological violence in the context of family violence may 
also encompass imposing one person’s will on another, 
or personal control over a family member, provoking ten-
sion and psychological suffering, demonstrative violence 
against objects, pets, verbal threats, display of guns, neg-
lect,  acts  of  jealousy,  constraints  of  all  kinds,  as  well  as 
actions  with  similar  effects  (Family  Violence  Act  Recast, 
2012).  In  Slovenia,  ‘Bad  treatment’  is  defined  as  putting 
a  family  member  in  a  subordinate  position  by  aggres-
sively limiting their equal rights (Criminal Code, Art. 170).

No specific intimate partner violence or domestic 
violence offence

For  those  Member  States  that  rely  on  separate  criminal 
offences,  verbal  abuse,  insult,  slander,  harassment  and 
stalking  can  all  be  used  to  prosecute  this  aspect  of  in-
timate partner violence.

Sexual violence

The  research  shows  that  the  component  of  sexual  vio-
lence in the context of an intimate partner relationship is 
covered in all Member States’ definitions, with the excep-
tion of Ireland.

Ten  Member  States  (49)  have  no  specific  intimate  partner 
violence  or  domestic  violence  offence.  In  those  Member 
States, intimate partner violence is prosecuted under vari-
ous  criminal  offences,  depending  on  the  type  of  physical 
violence that occurred. The fact that the offence occurred in 
a family or intimate partner context then represents an ag-
gravating circumstance of the offence. Belgium and France, 
when  using  their  statistical  definitions  for  data  collection 
purposes, define physical violence in terms of the existing 
offences of their respective criminal codes (see Annex 6).

Psychological violence

Psychological violence is a core component of Member 
States’ definitions, included in the definitions of 25 Mem-
ber States (50).

Specific legal definitions of intimate partner violence

Sweden’s  intimate  partner  violence  definition  covers 
a number of acts of psychological violence, such as un-
lawful harassment, unlawful threat, breach of domiciliary 
peace,  intrusive  photography,  non-sexual  molestation, 
and unauthorised access to, or use of, computer systems.

The Spanish Criminal Code includes the offence of psy-
chological abuse, defined as causing mental damage to 
an intimate partner — whatever the means or procedure 
used — or by actively hitting or abusing an intimate part-
ner without causing injury. The latter definition also ap-
plies to vulnerable persons who live with the perpet rator 
(Criminal Code, Art. 153/1).

In  2015,  the  United  Kingdom  created  a  new  offence  of 
controlling  or  coercive  behaviour  in  the  family  context, 
including 
intimate  relationships  (Serious  Crime  Act, 
2015/76). This new offence could be considered a type of 
intimate partner violence offence, strictly limited to psy-
chological violence. Other types of violence (physical or 
sexual)  in  intimate  partner  relationships  are  prosecuted 
under other relevant criminal offences, such as assault.

(49)  BE, DK, DE, EE, FR, LV, NL, AT, FI, UK.
(50)  BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, 

RO, SI, SK, SE, UK.

38

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Specific legal definitions of intimate partner 
violence

of interpretations when it is a component of domestic/
family violence (see Annex 7).

The Swedish intimate partner violence definition refers to 
the sexual crime offences, which include rape, sexual co-
ercion, sexual exploitation and sexual molestation.

Specific statistical definitions of intimate partner 
violence or domestic violence

In  Estonia  and  the  United  Kingdom,  sexual  violence  is 
not  limited  to  any  specific  act.  In  Belgium,  France  and 
the Netherlands, the component is limited to the existing 
criminal offences of rape and sexual assault.

Domestic or family violence

In  Cyprus,  the  family  violence  offence  includes  ‘any  act, 
omission  or  behaviour  which  causes  physical,  sexual  or 
mental  injury  to  any  member  of  the  family  by  another 
member  of  the  family,  and  includes  violence  used  for 
the  purpose  of  having  sexual  intercourse  without  the 
consent of the victim, as well as of restricting their free-
dom’ (Law on violence in the family, 2000/2004).

In  the  Romanian  legal  provision,  sexual  violence  in  the 
context of family violence can take the following forms: 
sexual  assault,  harassment,  intimidation,  manipulation, 
brutality in pursuing coerced sexual intercourse, marital 
rape (Family Violence Act, 2003).

No specific intimate partner violence or domestic 
violence offence

Where  there  is  no  specific  intimate  partner  violence  or 
domestic violence offence, the sex crime offences, disag-
gregated by relationship, can be used to collect data on 
intimate partner violence. These mostly include rape and 
sexual assault.

Economic violence

Economic violence is covered in the legal and statistical 
definitions of 14 Member States (51), with a wide variety 

(51)  BE, BG, CZ, HR, IT, LT, HU, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, UK.

Other constituent elements

The Romanian legal provision on family violence includes 
verbal, social and spiritual violence (Family Violence Act, 
2003), while the Austrian offence provision specifies that 
repeated  persecution  or  harassment  (stalking)  may  also 
be considered intimate partner violence (Security Police 
Act, 1999).

Type of relationship (see Annex 8)

Specific definitions of intimate partner violence

The  specific  definition  of  intimate  partner  violence  in 
Sweden  covers  current  and  former  spouses,  as  well  as 
current  and  former  cohabitants  where  they  have  been 
cohabiting  under  circumstances  comparable  to  mar-
riage  (Criminal  Code,  Chapter  4).  The  offence  is  limited 
to violence committed by a man against a woman. The 
United  Kingdom  intimate  partner  violence  definition 
(which is limited to psychological violence) applies to both 
intimate personal relationships and family relationships.

Specific statistical definitions of intimate partner 
violence or domestic violence

Types  of  relationship  between  victim  and  perpetrator 
contained  in  statistical  intimate  partner  violence  or  do-
mestic violence definitions:

 

 

 

 

 

Belgium:  spouses  or  persons  who  live  together,  or 
who have lived together, and between whom a stable 
emotional and sexual relationship exists or existed.

Estonia: all intimate partners and family relatives.

France: spouse or cohabitant within a couple, married 
or  not,  in  registered  partnership,  or  simply  living 
together, or even separated.

The  Netherlands:  (ex)  partners,  family  and  relatives 
and family friends.

The  United  Kingdom:  intimate  partners  or  family 
members.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

39

3.  DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

Domestic or family violence

For  domestic  violence  that  recognises  intimate  partner 
violence,  the  notion  of  family  member  varies,  ranging 
from  spouses,  cohabiting  partners,  former  partners/
spouses to the broader ‘family member’. Some Member 
States  do  not  recognise  same-sex  partners  within  the 
scope of domestic violence (e.g. Cyprus). These different 
approaches are summarised below.

 

 

 

 

The Portuguese Criminal Code specifies that domestic 
violence  can  occur  against  someone  with  whom 
the  aggressor  maintains,  or  has  maintained,  a  dating 
relationship akin to that of spouses, even if not in the 
same household (Criminal Code, Art. 152).

The offence provisions in Cyprus (Law on violence in 
the family, 200/2004) and Bulgaria refer to cohabiting 
partners 
(Law  on  protection  against  domestic 
violence, 2005).

The  offence  provisions  in  Bulgaria,  Ireland,  France, 
Cyprus, Lithuania and Malta refer to spouses (or family 
relation/kinship  ties).  The  Cypriot  provision  refers 
specifically to husband and wife (thereby excluding 
same-sex  partners).  Provisions  in  Cyprus,  Lithuania 
and Malta explicitly mention former spouses.

In the Czech Republic’s criminal code, the definition 
of  domestic  violence  is  limited  only  to  situations  of 
cohabitation  and  thus  does  not  fully  correspond  to 
the definition of intimate partner violence. In Malta, 
the legislation also refers to persons living in the same 
household as the offender, or who had lived with the 
offender within the year preceding the offence.

  Under  Polish  law  on  domestic  violence,  a  family 
member  is  understood  to  mean  the  closest  person 
(Criminal  Code,  Art.  207).  In  Ireland,  the  law  refers 
broadly  to  persons  in  other  domestic  relationships 
(Domestic  Violence  Act,  1996).  In  Lithuania,  the  legal 
definition of ‘domestic violence’ also refers to persons 
with affinity or other close relations, including persons 

having a common domicile and a common household 
(Law on Protection Against Domestic Violence, 2001).

 

In Romania, the legal definition of domestic violence 
refers  to  violence  perpetrated  by  a  family  member 
against another member of the same family (Family 
Violence Act, 2003).

No specific intimate partner violence or domestic 
violence offence

In the Netherlands, where domestic violence is not a sep-
arate offence but is prosecuted under other serious (sexual) 
offences and might have an aggravating effect on the pen-
alty,  ‘domestic  and  family  circle’  means  partners,  ex-part-
ners, and family members. The French legislation also refers 
to partners within a couple, married or not, including civil 
union partners (Violence against women, violence within 
the couple and consequences on children Act, 2010).

In Belgium, the aggravating circumstance covers a ‘per-
son with whom [the offender] cohabits or has cohabited 
and who has or has had a lasting affective and sexual re-
lationship (Criminal Code, Art. 410).

3.5.3.  Summary

The approach to intimate partner violence varies across 
Member  States.  While  some  have  established  legal  of-
fences on domestic violence or intimate partner violence, 
others use a definition of domestic violence only for stat-
istical purposes, or use a combination of offences under 
their  criminal  legislation.  The  components  of  physical, 
psychological  and  sexual  violence  are  present  in  the 
majority  of  Member  States’  definitions  of  intimate  part-
ner violence/domestic violence, while the component of 
economic violence is included in half of the definitions. 
A wide range of acts fall within the scope of the different 
components, with a number identified as being common 
to the majority of Member States, e.g. sexual violence is 
understood to include sexual assault in at least 22 Mem-
ber States, and rape in at least 20 Member States.

40

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

4. TOWARDS A MEASURE OF 

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

4. 

 TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE 
AGAINST WOMEN

The  differences  in  legal  and  statistical  definitions  used 
by Member States, as well as variations in coverage, units 
of  measurement  and  data  collection  methods,  present 
a considerable obstacle to the comparability of data. Es-
tablishing uniform definitions for statistical purposes is 
essential to provide a measure across the EU of violence 
against women in a systematic and comparable manner 
and to assess the effectiveness of the EU policies that aim 
to eliminate these forms of violence.

A  coordinated  process  of  data  compilation  across  the 
Member States would foster the provision of more com-
parable  and  complete  data.  Guidelines  in  the  form  of 
indicators  that  include  uniform  definitions,  units  and 
sources would facilitate the provision of this data by the 
Member States.

At the same time, coordinated data compilation through 
the use of indicators would allow for the main gaps to be 
identified  and  comparability  issues  to  be  addressed  on 
an ongoing basis. Indicators could be seen as a bench-
mark for Member States to develop data collection and 
could guide Member States on possible additional data 
disaggregation,  the  units  of  measurement  they  would 
ideally use, and other aspects of data collection. The co-
ordinated process of data development and compilation 
ideally  includes  continuous  consultation  and  collabor-
ation between Member States. The current data compil-
ation procedure on crime statistics undertaken by Euro-
stat, including the work with experts from the Member 
States, is the framework for additional compilation of data 
on violence against women. To achieve comparability of 
data among Member States, this report proposes a step-
by-step approach to improve regular measurement of 
violence against women.

2018
Assist Member States 
to meet EU and 
international reporting 
requirements

2017
Present metadata and test 
feasibility of proposed indicators

Current report
Proposed indicators
on administrative data 

Current report
Uniform deﬁnitions 
for statistical purposes

As a result of the research conducted, uniform definitions 
and  indicators  to  regularly  measure  rape,  femicide,  and 
intimate  partner  violence  based  on  administrative  data 
are proposed in this report.

The next step is to define detailed metadata of the indica-
tors and test the feasibility of their population/calculation 
with real data provided by police and justice sectors. This 
research will be carried out by EIGE in 2017, including in-
tensive consultation with national authorities responsible 
for  data collection  on violence against women in all  28 
Member States. The aim of the consultations is to agree 
on country-specific recommendations to fulfil the com-
mitments to provide data on violence against women.

From  there,  Member  States  need  to  be  supported  to 
regularly  provide  comparable  data  on  violence  against 
women  and  thus  meet  their  monitoring  requirements 
and  policy  evaluation  under  the  Victims‘  Rights  Direc-
tive, the Istanbul Convention and the Beijing Platform for 
Action.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

43

4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

4.1.  Definitions

From the detailed mapping and analysis of the EU, inter-
national and national definitions (see Chapter 3), uniform 
definitions  of  rape,  femicide  and  intimate  partner  vio-
lence are developed according to a predefined approach:

Compilation of 
components present 
in all 28 Member 
States’ deﬁnitions

Cross-check of components 
with measurability through 
administrative data and 
surveys

Fine-tuning with 
experts’ feedback, 
Istanbul Convention 
and ICCS

The  developed  definitions  are  especially  designed  for 
mapping country data and to maximise the number of 
countries  that  could  meet  the  definition  without  reser-
vation.  The  definitions  are  most  suitable  for  measuring 
police-recorded offences and convictions.

4.1.1.  Rape

The  common  components  of  rape  definitions  and  the 
total number of Member States reflecting these compo-
nents in their definition is presented in the next figure.

Figure 2: Different components of rape in Member States  (52)

Components of rape in Member States 

e
p
a
r

f
o
s
t
n
e
n
o
p
m
o
C

VAGINAL INTERCOURSE

LACK OF CONSENT

USE OF FORCE

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF VULNERABILITY

COERCION

OTHER FORMS OF PENETRATION

USE OF AN OBJECT

OTHER BODY PARTS FOR PENETRATION

THREAT

MARITAL/INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCE

DECEIT

FORCED STERILISATION

0 

28 

28 

27 

26 

25 

24 

20 

20 

16 

13 

12 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

Number of Member States 

(52)  For  a  detailed  description  of  each  of  the  components  of  rape  in 

Member States see section 3.3.2 on page 31.

44

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

 
 
 
EIGE

4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Two components can be used to form a baseline defin-
ition, comprised of inherent parts of the definitions pres-
ent in all Member States: lack of consent and vaginal inter-
course.  The  baseline  definition  would  therefore  match 
that used by Eurostat, according to which rape is defined 
as ‘sexual intercourse without valid consent’.

Adding to this baseline definition additional components 
that  can  be  measured  through  administrative  data  and 
surveys, are validated by expert’s feedback (53) and meet 
the requirements in international standards, the proposal 
for a uniform definition to measure rape is (54):

Uniform definition of rape

Sexual penetration, whether vaginal, anal or oral, through 
the use of object or body parts, without consent, using 
force, coercion or by taking advantage of the vulnerability 
of the victim.

4.1.2.  Femicide

The common components of femicide definitions (iden-
tified through homicide  definitions) and  the  total  num-
ber  of  Member  States  reflecting  these  components  in 
their definition is presented in the next figure.

Figure 3: Different components of femicide in Member States  (55)

Components of femicide in Member States 

e
d
i
c
i
m
e
f

f
o
s
t
n
e
n
o
p
m
o
C

DEATH RELATED TO UNSAFE ABORTION (SEPERATE OFFENCE)

14 

INTENTIONAL KILLING

24 

FGM-RELATED DEATH (SEPARATE OFFENCE)

KILLING OF PARTNER/SPOUSE

GENDER-BASED ACT AND/OR KILLING OF WOMEN

DEATH OF WOMEN RESULTING FROM INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

9 

7 

6 

5 

DOWRY-RELATED DEATHS

FEMALE FOETICIDE

HONOUR KILLING

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

Number of Member States 

(53)  EIGE,  Consultation  Meeting  ‘Terminology  for  Data  Collection  on 
Rape, Femicide and Intimate Partner Violence’, 26 April 2016, Vilnius.
(54)  It is important to acknowledge the limitations of the current com-
mon components of rape, as they omit the power relations embed-
ded in gender-based violence. The analysis conducted in this report 
reflects what is feasible at this moment at EU level: harmonisation of 
definitions as a minimum standard towards more comparable and 
ultimately more gender-sensitive definitions.

(55)  For a detailed description of each of the components of femicide in 

Member States see section 3.4.2 on page 33.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

45

 
 
 
4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

The component ‘intentional killing’ is present in most of 
the definitions and is used to form a baseline definition, 
demonstrating that the gender aspect of killing is largely 
missing from the data collection definition framework.

Adding to the baseline definition additional components 
that  can  be  measured  through  administrative  data  and 
surveys, are validated by expert’s feedback (56) and meet 
the requirements in international standards, the proposal 
for a uniform definition to measure femicide is:

Uniform definition of femicide

The killing of a woman by an intimate partner and death of 
a woman as a result of a practice that is harmful to women. 
Intimate partner is understood as former or current spouse 
or partner, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has 
shared the same residence with the victim.

4.1.3.  Intimate partner violence 

The common components of intimate partner violence 
definitions  and  the  total  number  of  Member  States  re-
flecting these components in their definition is present-
ed in the next figure.

Figure 4: Different components of intimate partner violence in Member States  (57)

Components of intimate partner violence 

PHYSICAL VIOLENCE

SEXUAL VIOLENCE

PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE

ECONOMIC VIOLENCE

OTHER CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF IPV

2 

V
P

I

f
o
s
t
n
e
n
o
p
m
o
C

28 

27 

25 

14 

0 

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

30 

Number of Member States 

The  component  ‘physical  violence’  is  the  only  compo-
nent  that  is  present  in  all  of  the  Member  States’  defin-
itions and can be used to form a baseline definition.

Adding  to  the  baseline  definition  additional  components 
that  can  be  measured  through  administrative  data  and 
surveys,  are  validated  by  expert’s  feedback  (58)  and  meet 
requirements  in  international  standards,  the  proposal  for 
a uniform definition to measure intimate partner violence 
is shown in Table 6.

(56)  EIGE,  Consultation  Meeting  ‘Terminology  for  Data  Collection  on 
Rape, Femicide and Intimate Partner Violence’, 26 April 2016, Vilnius.

(58)  EIGE,  Consultation  Meeting  ‘Terminology  for  Data  Collection  on 
Rape, Femicide and Intimate Partner Violence’, 26 April 2016, Vilnius.

(57)  For  a  detailed  description  of  each  of  the  components  of  rape  in 

Member States see section 3.5.2 on page 36.

46

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

 
 
 
EIGE

4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Table 6: Overview of EIGE’s uniform definition of intimate partner violence

Uniform definition of intimate partner violence

Intimate  
partner  
violence

General

Physical  
violence

Sexual  
violence

Any act of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occurs between former 
or current spouse or partner, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same 
residence with the victim.

Any act which causes physical harm to the partner or former partner as a result of unlawful 
physical force. Physical violence can take the form of, among others, serious and minor as-
sault, deprivation of liberty and manslaughter.

Any sexual act performed on the victim without consent. Sexual violence can take the form 
of rape or sexual assault.

Psychological 
violence

Any act or behaviour which causes psychological harm to the partner or former partner. 
Psychological violence can take the form of, among others, coercion, defamation, verbal 
insult or harassment.

Economic 
violence

Any act or behaviour which causes economic harm to the partner. Economic violence can take 
the form of, among others, property damage, restricting access to financial resources, educa-
tion or the labour market, or not complying with economic responsibilities, such as alimony.

4.2.  Indicators

For  each  uniform  definition  a  corresponding  indicator 
was developed. The indicators aim to establish a measure 
of violence against women through administrative sour-
ces, mostly from the police and justice sectors, and serve 
various  purposes,  in  particular  for  estimating  reporting 
rates and for monitoring or evaluating the performance 
of services.

Although  indicators  on  violence  against  women  have 
been developed in the past, few coordinated data collec-
tion processes have been put in place. The type of data 
collected in the Member States were examined in order 

to  refine  existing  indicators  and/or  develop  others  that 
would better reflect measurability through existing data 
collection in the Member States and comparability across 
Member States. The proposed indicators were discussed 
and fine-tuned during an online discussion organised by 
EIGE through its EuroGender platform (59).

The developed indicators are output indicators, measur-
ing the number of reported incidents or incidents iden-
tified or processed by an institution. To provide a full pic-
ture,  output  indicators  need  to  be  complemented  and 
compared to other indicators such as process indicators 
or other outcome indicators (for example, of the perform-
ance  of  administrative  services  in  combating  violence 
against women).

(59)  EIGE, ‘Online Discussion on proposed indicators for data collection 
on  intimate  partner  violence,  rape  and  femicide’,  7  July  2017,  
http://eurogender.eige.europa.eu/online-discussions/online-
discussion-proposed-indicators-data-collection-intimate-partner-
violence

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

47

4.  TOWARDS A MEASURE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

EIGE

Table 7: Criteria for developing indicators to measure rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

Relevance

Whether the indicator is in line with European policy (European Union and Council of Europe) and relevant to 
stakeholders.

Measurability

Whether the indicator can be populated by available data (including whether the data source uses a defini-
tion that approximately matches that used for the indicator).

Specificity

Whether the indicator provides data on a clearly defined incident and does not overlap with other indicators.

Complemen-
tarity

Whether the indicator complements existing indicators: (1) indicators for which EU-level data compilation 
processes have already been implemented by Eurostat–UNODC; (2) indicators for which coordinated data 
consolidation processes from administrative sources across the EU are not yet in place (e.g. indicators sug-
gested by the UN Statistical Commission, Council of Europe indicators on domestic violence); (3) indicators 
measuring the effectiveness of policies combating violence against women, such as indicators on policies, 
legislation and social services.
Whether the indicators and their metadata complement the data consolidation by Eurostat–UNODC.

Validity

Whether the indicator is validated by experts and stakeholders.

The  age  threshold  for  the  proposed  indicators  was 
set  at  18  years  and  over.  According  to  Eurostat’s  meta-
data  on  crime  statistics,  the  age  threshold  for  adults  is 
more  harmonised  across  Member  States  than  that  for 
juveniles  (Eurostat,  2016c).  The  2014  EU-wide  Survey  on 
Violence against Women only covered those aged 18 to 
74 (FRA, 2014). This is the most important cross-national 
survey that can provide estimates of prevalence of rape 
and  intimate  partner  violence.  With  administrative  data 
being of greatest value when compared with prevalence 
data, it was decided to collect data that can be compared 
to data from this survey.

The  complementarity  with  survey  data  was  further 
taken  into  account.  To  provide  a  full  picture  of  the  ex-
tent of violence against women and on the functioning 
of administrative services, it is necessary to complement 
reported cases (based on administrative data) with preva-
lence data (based on surveys). While the indicators were 
developed to be measured through administrative sour-
ces,  complementarity  with  survey  data  was  taken  into 
account  in  the  development  (for  example,  by  choosing 
units  that  would  enable  comparability  with  prevalence 
data).

Table 8: EIGE’s proposed indicators to measure rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

Form of violence

Proposed indicator

Rape

Femicide

Intimate  
partner  
violence

General

Physical  
violence

Sexual  
violence

Annual number of women victims reporting rape aged 18 years and over

Women victims of intimate femicide aged 18 and over committed by an intimate partner, as 
a share of women victims of homicide aged 18 and over

Annual number of women victims of intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, as recorded by 
administrative services

Annual number of women victims of physical intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, as 
recorded by administrative services

Annual number of women victims of sexual intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, as 
recorded by administrative services

Psychological 
violence

Annual number of women victims of psychological intimate partner violence aged 18 and over, 
as recorded by administrative services

Economic  
violence

Annual number of women victims of economic intimate partner violence aged 18 or over, as 
recorded by administrative services

48

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

Achieving  comparability  of  administrative  data  on  vio-
lence  against  women  would  provide  an  EU-wide  over-
view  of  reported  cases  of  this  type  of  violence  and  en-
able  assessment  of  the  service  response.  The  following 
recommendations  tailored  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
European  Union  and  the  Member  States  address  cur-
rent challenges in this area and suggest ways forward to 
bridge existing gaps in the short, medium and long term.

5.1.  European Union

1. Ratify the Istanbul Convention

As  the  European  Union  has  signed  the  Council  of  Eur-
ope Convention on preventing and combating violence 
against  women  and  domestic  violence,  ratification  will 
guarantee its full implementation in all of the EU Member 
States, including those who currently have not yet ratified 
the convention.

It is recommended for the European Union to ratify the 
Istanbul Convention without delay, as it will be a legally 
binding  instrument  dedicated  to  combating  violence 
against women. The framework of the Istanbul Conven-
tion,  in  particular  Article  11  on  ‘Data  collection  and  re-
search’, would provide for Member States to collect and 
send accurate and disaggregated data to Eurostat. In this 
way, the collection of comparable data on rape, femicide, 
intimate partner violence and all other forms of violence 
against  women  covered  by  the  Convention  would  en-
hance significantly.

2. Develop a legal act on a data compilation system

The need for a uniform data compilation system on vio-
lence  against  women  across  the  European  Union  is  ur-
gent. Together with the ratification of the Istanbul Con-
vention, a legal act to establish such a system at EU level 
is  recommended,  as  it  would  strengthen  a  mandatory 
data collection framework.

This  legal  initiative  could  give  a  mandate  to  Eurostat  to 
compile data from Member States on rape, femicide and 
intimate partner violence disaggregated by sex, age and 
victim-perpetrator relationship.

In order to be consistent and efficient, it is recommended 
to align this legal act to the existing international stand-
ards,  such  as  the  Istanbul  Convention,  the  International 
Classification  of  Crimes  for  Statistical  purposes  and  the 
Beijing Platform for Action.

3.  Monitor the implementation of the Victims’ 

Rights Directive

As from 2017 onwards, the Victims’ Rights Directive com-
pels Member States to deliver statistical data on how vic-
tims, including victims of gender-based violence, access 
the rights set out in the directive. This data collection pro-
cess includes important disaggregated data on violence 
against women: at least the number and type of crimes 
reported and the number of victims, their age and sex.

Closely  monitoring  and  supporting  Member  States’  full 
implementation  of  the  directive,  with  a  particular  focus 
on victims of violence against women, is recommended 
to be able to assess gaps and challenges and prompt im-
provement in this area.

In order to be consistent and efficient, it is recommended 
to align the monitoring processes of the Victims’ Rights 
Directive and Istanbul Convention at EU level.

4.  Adopt harmonised definitions and indicators  

for coordinated data collection

The adoption of harmonised definitions for statistical pur-
poses of rape, femicide and intimate partner violence — 
specifically those presented in this report — will support 
the  comparability  of  data  on  violence  against  women. 
They are exactly designed for mapping country data and 
to  maximise  the  number  of  Member  States  that  could 
meet the definitions without reservation. The definitions 

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

51

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

EIGE

take into account the ICCS and cover all elem ents of the 
Istanbul Convention and therefore can be used for coor-
dinated data collection requests by both Eurostat–UNO-
DC and the Council of Europe.

Providing  additional  data  is  a  significant  challenge  to 
Member  States  as  it  requires  changes  to  electronic  sys-
tems  and  additional  resources.  Without  prior  coordin-
ation, demands to Member States from different data col-
lection bodies might result in overlapping or conflicting 
requests.  Efforts  to  align  these  data  collection  requests 
are  needed,  both  in  terms  of  the  type  of  violence  and 
level  of  disaggregation  requested.  In  particular  it  is  rec-
ommended  to  use  similar  definitions  when  requesting 
data for certain categories of violence, and to make them 
clear and user friendly.

In line with existing indicators on violence against women 
developed by the Council of the European  Union (see An-
nex 10), the implementation of the indicators proposed 
in this report on rape, femicide and intimate partner vio-
lence will guide and support Member States to improve 
their data collection processes in a coordinated way.

5.  Include violence against women in  
future European statistical policies

The European Statistical Programme 2013-2017, adopted 
by the European Commission, does not specifically men-
tion the area of violence against women.

It  is  recommended  to  highlight  the  collection  of  data 
on  violence  against  women  in  every  regulation  estab-
lishing  the  European  statistical  programmes  and  other 
policy documents related to Eurostat’s data compilation 
on crime statistics. This will reinforce the effort that data 
consolidated by Eurostat shall include disaggregated in-
formation  on  violence  against  women,  including  rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence.

6.  Adding a gender dimension to crime statistics

Crime  statistics  currently  available  at  EU  level  lack  infor-
mation on the gender dimension of several criminal of-
fences  and  it  is  recommended  to  further  disaggregate 
data  by  sex  of  the  victim  and  the  victim–perpetrator 
relationship.

The availability of this additional information on criminal 
offences will highlight the fact that women are particular-
ly vulnerable to certain forms of violence, predominantly 
committed  by  their  intimate  partner.  It  is  important  for 
EU-wide  policies  on  victims’  rights  to  take  into  account 
this  gendered  distinction.  Strong  cooperation  by  Mem-
ber  States  is  needed  in  this  effort  to  complete  crime 
statistics  with  information  on  the  sex  of  the  victim  and 
the victim-perpetrator relationship. Member States could 
strive  to  improve  their  data  collection  by  providing  the 
necessary  additional  breakdowns  to  Eurostat.  This  pro-
cess will not only support harmonised data consolidation 
on violence against women at EU level, but also aid data 
collection at national level.

7.  Include additional offences related to intimate 

partner violence and femicide in data compilation

Eurostat does not compile data on intimate partner vio-
lence or femicide (although data by age and sex are avail-
able for numbers of victims and numbers of perpetrators 
of intentional homicide, thus providing an approximation 
of femicide in intimate partner relationships).

It is recommended to include additional criminal offen-
ces in the EU data compilation process so as to provide 
more  valuable  information.  The  table  below  includes 
suggested additional offences corresponding to the ICCS 
list of offences, which can be used to collect information 
on femicide and intimate partner violence:

52

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

Offence category

Offence sub-category ICCS codes

Physical violence

Sexual violence

Psychological  
violence

0103 Non-intentional homicide
02012 Threat (serious and minor threat)

0302 Sexual exploitation
03021 Sexual exploitation of adults
03029 Other acts of sexual exploitation

02012 Threat
02081 Harassment
02082 Stalking
0205 Coercion

Intimate  
partner 
violence

Economic violence

020321 Acts causing harm or intending to cause harm to the person: forced 
labour for domestic services
05022 Theft of personal property
05042 Damage against personal property

Femicide

Intimate partner  
femicide

0106 Illegal foeticide
0109 Other acts leading to death or intending to cause death

Member States’ current data on economic violence and 
psychological  violence  is  limited.  EU  data  compilation 
on  these  two  forms  of  violence  from  Member  States 
that have data is recommended. The remaining Member 
States could provide data on these two categories in the 
longer term.

8.  Support the development of specific ICCS codes 
for rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

The  International  Classification  of  Crimes  for  Statistical 
Purposes (ICCS) defines and codes all crimes, thus setting 
a  framework  for  criminal  offences  that  all  countries  can 
adopt when collecting data on crime. Adding offences and 
specific codes and tags related to violence against women 
would  enhance  its  visibility  in  international  statistics.  It  is 

recommended  to  introduce  a  specific  tag  for  the  victim–
perpetrator relationship to the ICCS which would allow for 
cases of intimate partner violence to be identified.

Currently,  the  ICCS  addresses  femicide  within  the  tags 
‘Intentional homicide’ and ‘Attempted Intentional homi-
cide’,  but  including  a  specific  tag  and  definition  for 
femicide  (with  sub-categories  of  ‘Intentional  femicide’, 
‘Attempted  intentional  femicide’  and  ‘Non-intentional 
femicide’) is recommended. Furthermore, it is suggested 
to include the category of ‘Attempted rape’ to the ICCS, 
alongside its definition.

To enable harmonised data collection, the new catego-
ries and sub-categories presented in the table below are 
suggested:

Crime

Definition

Femicide

The killing of a woman by an intimate partner and death of a woman 
as a result of a practice that is harmful to women. Intimate partner is 
understood as former or current spouse or partner, whether or not the 
perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim.

Division

0108 Femicide:
01081 ‘Intentional femicide’
01082 ‘Attempted intentional femicide’
01083 ‘Non-intentional femicide’

Rape

Attempted sexual penetration, whether vaginal, anal or oral, through 
the use of object or body parts, without consent, using force, coer-
cion or by taking advantage of the vulnerability of the victim.

030114 ‘Attempted rape’

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

53

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

EIGE

Inclusion of these additional offences is essential for har-
monised  data  collection  on  violence  against  women. 
However, the ICCS is not yet implemented across all EU 
Member States and Eurostat is set to implement it for the 
next  data  compilation  cycle.  The  full  adoption  of  ICCS 
might take time to be implemented at all levels of nation-
al institutions responsible for data collection.

9.  Align the definition of rape with that of the ICCS

Eurostat  already  compiles  data  on  rape  offences  from 
21 Member States according to the following definition: 
‘Sexual intercourse without valid consent’. From 2016, the 
ICCS  definition  from  category  03011  will  be  used:  ‘Sex-
ual  penetration  without  valid  consent  or  with  consent 
as  a  result  of  intimidation,  force,  fraud,  coercion,  threat, 
deception, use of drugs or alcohol, abuse of power or of 
a  position  of  vulnerability,  or  the  giving  or  receiving  of 
benefits’.  In  this  definition,  sexual  penetration  is  under-
stood as, ‘a minimum, the penetration of the vulva, anus 
or  mouth  with  any  body  part  or  object’  but  this  is  not 
mentioned in the main text and only explained as a foot-
note. In contrast, the definition of rape proposed in this 
report explicitly incorporates the key aspect of penetra-
tion, which must also be reflected in the ICCS definition. 
Accordingly,  it  is  recommended  for  Eurostat  to  base  its 
data collection on this full definition.

10. Improve health data on causes of death

Eurostat currently compiles and publishes data on causes 
of death based on the International Statistical Classifica-
tion  of  Diseases  and  Related  Health  Problems  (ICD-10) 
codes. The health sector has introduced many improve-
ments in recent years, such as computerised patient re-
cords, but less on data collection regarding cases of intim-
ate partner violence.

The potential contribution from the health sector could 
be researched. Given that ICD-10 is already in place and 
promises comparable data collection at least on femicide, 
further steps can ensure that it is implemented correctly.

54

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

5.2.  Member States

1. Modify categories of victim–perpetrator 
relationship

In order to identify all cases of intimate partner violence 
on the four key dimensions of this type of violence (phys-
ical,  sexual,  psychological  and  economic  violence)  and 
on femicide, it is recommended to disaggregate the data 
collected  by  Member  States  by  the  victim–perpetrator 
relationship.

In addition it is important that the codes used to describe 
the victim–perpetrator relationship allow for the identifi-
cation of an intimate partner relationship (understood as 
former or current spouse, or partner, whether or not the 
perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with 
the victim) and not to be limited to the broader category 
such as domestic/family context.

2.  Provide separate data on the specific  

age group: ‘18 years and over’

It is recommended for Member States to provide data in 
a format that allows Eurostat to collect data on the forms 
of violence for the age group: ‘18 years and over’. This age 
group was set as it is the threshold for the definition of 
‘adult’ in most of the Member States and would therefore 
allow  better  comparability  of  data.  Information  on  the 
victim’s  age  is  readily  available  in  most  Member  States, 
but not always statistically processed.

3.  Align national data collection with the ICCS 

system

In  order  to  facilitate  data  collection  by  Eurostat  and 
to  ensure  harmonised  data  at  national 
is  
recommended for Member States to adapt their data col-
lection to align with the ICCS.

level, 

it 

At  this  stage,  the  implementation  of  ICCS  and  the  com-
parison of national codes with ICCS codes is not very ad-
vanced. Therefore, Member States that are currently mem-
bers of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal 
Justice and members of the Economic and Social Council 
are requested to strengthen monitoring of the implemen-
tation of ICCS alignment in all Member States.

EIGE

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

To  implement  the  recommendations  concerning  the 
ICCS,  the  establishment  of  correspondence  tables  be-
tween national data codes and ICCS categories is recom-
mended.  Correspondence  tables  are  very  useful  espe-
cially given the difficulty Member States face in making 
changes to legal definitions. As for other types of crimes, 
Member States are encouraged via their national statistic-
al  offices,  to  use  these  correspondence  tables  for  rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence.

4.  Improve the quality of administrative data 

collection through training and implementation 
of the European Statistics Code of Practice

It  is  recommended  that  Member  States  adhere  to  the 
principles  of  the  European  Statistics  Code  of  Practice 
and progressively implement the code in its entirety. The 
European  Statistics  Code  of  Practice  aims  to  harmonise 
national statistics as well as quality standards, and its im-
plementation is of great relevance for data collection on 
violence against women.

Member States should (be supported to) invest in train-
ing and the implementation of guidelines on minimum 
standards for data collection on violence against women. 
In  order  to  record  and  report  valuable  information  and 
identify the gender-based context of offences, adequate 
capacity and resources are needed.

5. Develop integrated IT systems

It is recommended for Member States to implement elec-
tronic  data  management  systems  that  allow  recording, 
processing,  storing  and  retrieving  of  information  using 
computer systems instead of paper-based records. Such 
systems  are  especially  useful  for  challenges  regarding 
accuracy,  reliability  and  comparability  of  data  and  ad-
vancement  in  this  area  is  directly  related  to  the  current 
initiatives to improve data collection on violence against 
women.

Furthermore, Member States could integrate  IT  systems 
used  in  different  phases  of  law  enforcement.  While  de-
signing  and  implementing  such  systems,  a  forward-
looking, long-term approach is strongly recommended. 
Only in this way, initiatives at national level can be inte-
grated  with  EU-wide  initiatives  on  data  exchange  and 
management.

The  development  and  adoption  of  new  IT  systems  re-
quires  considerable  financial  investment,  necessitates 
a transition period and causes interruptions in data col-
lection. However, experience shows that in the long term, 
such investments are beneficial in reducing overall costs 
and increasing efficiency.

6. Publish data and metadata

Access  to  data  and  metadata  facilitates  monitoring,  im-
pact  assessment  and  evaluation  regarding  violence 
against  women.  The  publication  of  easily  accessible 
metadata, explaining the legal background and the def-
initions of categories, in addition to certain quality aspects 
of the data collection procedure, will ensure that data is 
interpreted and used correctly. For accessibility, standard-
isation and ease of data exchange it is recommended for 
statistical organisations to follow the statistical data and 
metadata exchange (SDMX) standards.

7.  Validate the expertise of national 

statistical offices

It is recommended to coordinate and compile data col-
lection on violence against women by a national statistic-
al  office,  as  they  have  quality  assurance  mechanisms  in 
place, leading to high quality data and metadata.

National  statistical  offices  can  play  an  important  role  in 
enhancing data collection on violence against women at 
the  source  and  provide  input  and  expertise  to  improve 
the quality of the data at early recording stage.

8.  Measure violence against women through 

national surveys

Nationwide  surveys  that  cover  questions  on  rape  and 
intimate  partner  violence  are  carried  out  in  all  Member 
States. However, comparability of the results of national 
prevalence surveys between Member States remains ex-
tremely limited.

In  order  to  improve  cross-national  comparability  of  sur-
veys  with  administrative  data  it  is  recommended  to 
(1) align the definitions in surveys to those used for ad-
ministrative  data  collection  and  to  international  defin-
itions;  (2)  allow  for  disaggregation  by  victim–partner 
relationship  for  all  types  of  incidents;  (3)  allow  for  the 

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

55

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS

EIGE

It is therefore recommended that necessary prelim inary 
work is undertaken to establish what kind of costs might 
be  relevant  to  the  justice  and  police  sectors.  Existing 
studies  provide  information.  For  instance,  costs  associ-
ated  with  provisions  of  services  by  law  enforcement 
agencies might be relevant. Administrative costs associ-
ated  with  investigations,  time  consumption  within  the 
police, and all costs associated with criminal proceedings 
ranging from logistics of police officers to court fees can 
provide useful information.

EIGE’s report on estimating the costs of gender-based vio-
lence provides further analyses of this area (EIGE, 2014b).

measurement  of  annual  prevalence  rates;  (4)  allow  for 
disaggregation  into  different  age  groups;  (5)  allow  for 
disaggregation  by  sex  of  the  victim  and  the  offender. 
Furthermore, surveys need to be carried out on a regular 
basis using similar methods in order to allow for trends to 
be estimated.

9.  Improve regular estimations of the costs  
of violence against women in police and  
justice sectors

Measuring  the  costs  incurred  by  police  and  justice  sec-
tors  in  dealing  with  cases  of  violence  against  women 
would help to identify the resources required to combat 
it, to establish where prevention is needed and to evalu-
ate the cost-effectiveness of the policies implemented to 
combat violence of this nature.

Existing research to estimate the cost of violence against 
women  at  national  level  is  very  limited.  Scattered  and 
sporadic national studies using different methodologies 
result in a far from complete picture.

56

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

6. CONCLUSION

6.  CONCLUSION

The  variety  of  terminology  used  to  define  violence 
against women and the different systems used to meas-
ure  administrative  data  among  Member  States  hinder 
comparability across the EU-28. To overcome this, a con-
sistent  approach  is  needed  to  support  the  European 
Union and its Member States in their efforts to improve 
data collection on violence against women.

The results presented in this report pave the way for bet-
ter comparability of data, by providing clear and concise 
tools in the form of uniform terminology and indicators 
to  measure  violence  against  women.  This  pivotal  step 
is  crucial  to  enhance  knowledge  on  reported  violence 
against  women  and  enable  assessment  of  EU  pol icies 
aiming to combat it.

The  proposed  set  of  definitions  and  indicators  on  rape, 
femicide and intimate partner violence were developed 
to facilitate the process of data collection in the EU. They 
are designed to support Member States in meeting dif-
ferent  monitoring  requirements  on  violence  against 

women. This is the result of a multi-level analysis, taking 
into account the binding standards of the Istanbul Con-
vention, the Victims’ Rights Directive and the Beijing Plat-
form for Action, as well as the European and International 
statistical codes, in particular the International Classifica-
tion of Crimes for Statistical Purposes (ICCS).

To ultimately achieve a more complete and comparable 
picture  of  the  extent  of  violence  against  women  in  the 
European  Union  and  the  Member  States,  the  adoption 
and population of the indicators proposed in this report 
is  essential.  The  tailor-made  recommendations  for  the 
European Union and its Member States provide concrete 
steps  for  improving  data  collection  on  violence  against 
women.

This report is not intended as an end point but rather will 
be  followed  by  further  initiatives  to  strengthen  Mem-
ber  States’  capacities  to  meet  monitoring  requirements 
through close cooperation.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

59

ANNEXES

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 1:  Overview of data availability on rape, 

femicide and intimate partner violence 
in different administrative sectors (60)

Overview of gaps in data collection on violence against women 
in the police sector

Rape

Type  
of VAW
Rape

Femicide

Availability of data including sex  
of the victim
24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE (63), EL, ES, HR, CY, 
LV, LT, LU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (61)
Not applicable (64)

No available data, or no break-
down by sex of the victim (62)
4 
(FR, IT (65), PL, HU)

Type  
of VAW
Femicide

Availability of data including sex of the 
victim and victim-perpetrator relationship
14 
(CZ, DE, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, NL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, UK)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown ( 66)
8 
(BE, BG, EE, CY, HU, IE, AT, SE)

No available data, or no break-
down by sex of the victim
6 
(DK, EL, LU, LT, MT, PL)

Intimate partner violence

Type  
of VAW

IPV

Availability of data including sex of 
the victim and victim-perpetrator 
relationship
16 
(BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE (68), ES, FR, LV, LT, HU, MT, 
NL, AT, PT, FI, UK)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (67)

No available data, or no  
breakdown by sex of the victim

10 
(BG, EL, HR, IT (69), CY, PL, LU, SI, 
SK, SE)

2 
(DK, RO)

(60)  The tables were constructed according to the information retrieved through research by national experts (desk research and communication with 
authorities); data that is not publically available and has not been communicated by authorities upon request could not be taken into account.
(61)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(62)  No breakdown by sex of the victim effectively means there is no useful data on this offence, so they have been grouped into the same category.
(63)  Ireland could be added to this category but the data on relationship is not recorded systematically.
(64)  The relationship breakdown is not applicable to rape because this study looked at all rape cases, not only between partners.
(65)  Italy only records data on sexual violence in general, not specifically on rape.
(66)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(67)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(68)  Ireland can be added to this category but the data on relationship is not recorded systematically.
(69)  IT: precise relationship breakdown only recorded for homicide cases.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

63

ANNEXES

EIGE

Overview of gaps in data collection on violence against women 
in the justice sector

Rape

Type of 
VAW

Rape

Femicide

Availability of data including sex 
of the victim
11 
(BG, CZ, ES, FR, LT, HU, NL, PL, RO, 
SK, SE)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (70)
Not applicable (71)

No available data, or no  
breakdown by sex of the victim
17 
(BE, DK, DE, EE, IE, IT (72), EL, HR, CY, LV, 
LU, MT, AT, PT, SI, FI, UK)

Type of 
VAW

Femicide

Availability of data including 
victim sex and victim-perpetrator 
relationship breakdown
5 
(ES, FR, LT, NL, RO)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (73)

No available data, or no  
breakdown by sex of the victim

7 
(EE, CY, LU, HU, PL, SE, SK)

16 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, HR, IT, LV, 
MT, AT, PT, SI, FI, UK)

Intimate partner violence

Type of 
VAW

IPV

Availability of data including 
victim sex and victim–perpetrator 
relationship breakdown
7 
(ES, FR, LT, LV, LU, HU, RO)

Data available, but no precise 
relationship breakdown (74)

No available data, or no  
breakdown by sex of the victim

7 
(EE, HR, CY, NL, PL, SK, SE)

14 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, IT, EL, MT, AT, 
PT, SI, FI, UK)

(70)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(71)  The relationship breakdown is not applicable to rape because this study looked at all rape cases, not only between partners.
(72)  IT: only records data on sexual violence in general, not specifically on rape.
(73)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

(74)  This column includes Member States that report to collect data on the relationship but there is either no specific category to indicate an intimate 

partnership or we could not confirm what the relationship category constitutes exactly.

64

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Overview of gaps in data collection on violence against women 
in the social services sector

Rape

Type of 
VAW

Rape

Availability of data disaggregated by sex of the 
victim and victim–perpetrator relationship
8
(CZ, EE, IE, FR, IT, LV, HU, PT)

Availability of data disaggregated by sex of the 
victim
3 
(EL, NL, SE)

Intimate partner violence75 76

Type of 
VAW

IPV

Availability of data disaggregated by sex of the 
victim (and victim–perpetrator relationship) (75)
19
(CZ, DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LU, HU, MT, NL, PL, 
PT, FI, SE) (76)

Availability of data on the type of violence experi-
enced by the victim
6 
(IE, FR, IT, LU, MT, FI)

Overview of gaps in data collection on violence against women 
in the health sector
Type of 
VAW

No available data

Availability of data 
(Member State) 
including sex
9
(DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, 
RO, SK, FI, SE)
4
(DK, LV, RO, SE)

Data available 
disaggregated 
by victim sex
7
(DK, ES, HR, LV, MT, 
RO, SK)
3
(DK, LV, RO)

2
(LV, RO)

Data available disaggregated 
by victim–perpetrator 
relationship
5
(ES, LV, MT, RO, SE)

Rape

Homicide

IPV

4
(ES, LV, MT, RO)

4
(ES, LV, MT, RO)

4
(ES, LV, MT, RO)

19 
(BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, BE, CZ, DE, EE, LT, 
LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, UK)

24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, 
LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)
24 
(BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, FR, HR, IT, CY, 
LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK)

(75)  Thirty-four social service organisations across 19 Member States were identified as collecting data on the broader concept of domestic violence 

disaggregated by sex.

(76)  The significant majority of these organisations also report on the victim–perpetrator relationship. In eight Member States (DK, IE, FR, IT, CY, PT, FI, SE)  
social services reported information on the precise nature of the relationship in incidents of intimate partner violence. There is, thus, at least one 
source providing data on both the sex of the victim and the relationship (either precise or vague) to the aggressor in each of the 19 Member 
States listed above. Social services data from all 19 Member States are based on similar counting units, although it should be noted that there are 
differences in wording across institutions, such as number of contacts or number of calls.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

65

ANNEXES

EIGE

Annex 2:  Number of Member States that include 

the component ‘use of force’ in their 
definitions for data collection on rape

Forms

Use of force

Coercion

Threat

Deceit

Surprise

Putting in helpless state

Ruse or artifice

Using authority or trust

No of MS Member States

27

25

16

12

2

2

1

1

BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE

BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE

BE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, AT, PL, PT, Sl, FI

BE, BG, DE, IT, CY (restricted), LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE

BE, FR

BG, RO

LU

LV

66

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 3:  Number of Member States that include 

the component ‘taking advantage of 
vulnerabilities’ in their definitions for 
data collection on rape

Type of vulnerabilities

No of MS Member States

Mental

Physical

Age

Illness

Pregnancy

Unconsciousness

Drugs

15

11

12

8

6

4

2

BE, DK, EL, FR*, HR, IT, LT, LU*, MT, NL*, PL*, SI, FI, SE, UK

BE, FR*, HR, IT, LT, LU*, MT, NL*, PL*, FI, SE

BE*, BG*, CZ*, IE*, FR*, HR, LT, LU*, MT, NL*, PL*, RO*

BE*, CZ*, FR*, HR, LU*, NL*, FI, SE

BE*, CZ*, FR*, HR, LU*, UK*

NL*, PT, FI, SE

SE, UK*

Taking advantage of vulnerability in general

17

BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE*, EL, ES*, LV, LT, LU, HU, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE

*Refers to aggravating circumstance.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

67

ANNEXES

EIGE

Annex 4:  Number of countries that include 

the component ‘penetration’  
(vaginal or other forms) in their 
definitions for data collection on rape

Type of penetration

No of MS

Member States

Vaginal intercourse

Anal penetration

Oral penetration

Any form of penetration

28

24

21

10

BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, 
SK, FI, SE, UK

BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE, UK

BE, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE, UK

BE, DE, FR, HR, IT, LU, NL, PL, FI, SE

68

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 5:  Overview of the femicide components 

in the Member States’ definitions

Component

Member States

No of  
Member States

Intentional killing

Gender-based act and/or killing of 
women

Killing of partner/spouse

Death of women resulting from intimate 
partner violence

YES

NO

BE, BG, CZ, DE*, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, 
NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SK, SE*, UK

DK, MT, SI, FI

YES**

BE, EE, EL, ES, PT, SI

NO

BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, 
PL, RO, SK, FI, SE, UK

YES**

DK, ES, FR, LV, LT, PT, RO

NO

BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, HR, IT, CY, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, 
SI, SK, FI, SE, UK

YES**

BE, EE, ES, HR, IT

NO

AT, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, FR, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, PL, 
PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, UK

Female genital mutilation-related death

Separate offence: BE, DK, FR, IT, CY, LU, NL, PL, SK

Death related to unsafe abortion

Separate offence: BE, DE, EL, HR, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, AT, RO, SI, SK, SE

Dowry-related death

Honour killing of women

Female foeticide

* Implicit
** Aggravating circumstance

None of the 28 Member States (it will fall under homicide but with 
specific aggravating circumstances identified)

None of the 28 Member States (it will fall under homicide but with 
specific aggravating circumstances identified)

None of the 28 Member States have this component.
(Infanticide is a separate offence in several Member States)

24

4

6

22

7

21

5

23

9

14

0

0

0

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

69

ANNEXES

EIGE

Annex 6:  Overview of components of intimate 

partner violence among Member States

Specific  
definition  
of IPV

Statistical 
definition 
of IPV

Intimate partner 
violence covered 
within scope 
of domestic 
violence

No specific 
IPV or 
domestic 
violence 
offence

BE
BG
CZ
DK
DE
EE
IE
EL
ES
FR
HR
IT
CY
LV
LT
LU
HU
MT
NL
AT
PL
PT
RO
SI
SK
FI
SE
UK
EU-28

√

√

2

√

√

√

√

√
5

√
√

√
√

√
√
√

√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√

16

√

√
√
√

√

√

√
√

√

√
10

Specific components of  
intimate partner violence definition
Type of behaviour

Physical 
violence
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
28

Sexual 
violence
√
√
√
√
√
√

Psychological and 
emotional violence
√
√
√
√
√
√

Economic 
violence
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
27

√
√
√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
25

√
√

√

√

√
√
√
√
√
√

√
14

70

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 7:  Reference to economic violence as 

a component of domestic/family 
violence

Member 
State

Reference to economic violence as a component of domestic/family violence

BE

BG

HR

IT

HU

PL

RO

SI

Economic violence has a restricted interpretation, which refers only to the offence of not paying alimony.

The legal definition of domestic violence includes economic violence, as well as the forcible restriction of individual 
freedom, rights and of private life (77).

Economic violence includes damage or destruction of personal and common property, banning or preventing the 
use of personal and joint property, including attempts to do so, as well as deprivation of rights or prohibition of 
personal income and property acquired by inheritance or personal work at the individual’s disposal, exclusion from 
employment or work, forced economic dependence, denial of funds for maintenance of the common household 
and care for children or other dependents of a common household (78).

To qualify as economic violence, there should be oppressive behaviour capable of provoking physical or psycho-
logical subservience. This is not the case for economic and family choices, even if one of the partners does not fully 
agree with them (79).

Economic violence is defined as ‘misappropriates or conceals any assets from conjugal or common property, thus 
causing serious deprivation’ (80).

Economic violence includes destruction, damage to property, seizure and embezzlement.

The legal definition explicitly includes economic violence within the scope of family violence. Economic violence is 
defined as: ‘forbidding professional activity, depriving a family member of economic means, including deprivation 
of basic needs such as food, medicine, intention of theft of personal goods, deprivation of use of common goods, 
forced work, refusal to contribute to family expenses, imposing hard or dangerous labour on family members 
including minors’ (81).

The legal provision on ‘family violence’ also includes any form of economic violence exerted by one family member 
over another. The definition of ‘bad treatment’ includes, for example, limiting freedom of movement, forcing a per-
son to work or to give up work, or any act that puts them in a subordinate position by aggressively limiting their 
equal rights (82).

(77)  Bulgaria, Law on Protection against Domestic Violence /LPADV/, 2005, Article 2.
(78)  Croatia, Article 4 Law on Protection from Domestic Violence of the Criminal Code.
(79)  Italy, Corte di Cassazione, Sezione VI, 8 November 2002, n. 55.
(80)  Hungary, Section 212/A on Domestic Violence of the new Criminal Code.
(81)  Romania, Article 2, of Law 25/2012, modifying law 217/2003 on preventing and combating family violence.
(82)  Slovenia, The Criminal Code, Chapter 19 — Criminal offences against sexual integrity, Article 170.

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

71

ANNEXES

EIGE

Annex 8:  Relationship covered by the definition 
of intimate partner violence/domestic 
violence

Relationship covered by the definition of intimate partner violence/domestic violence

Cohabitant

Former 
cohabit-
ant

Intimate 
relation-
ship

Close 
relation-
ship

Spouse

Former 
spouse

Partner

Former 
partner

Cohabi-
tating 
partner

Same- 
sex 
partner

Family 
member

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

BE

BG

CZ

DK

DE

EE

IE

EL

ES

FR

HR

IT

CY

LV

LT

LU

HU

MT

AT

PL

PT

RO

SI

SK

FI

SE

UK

EU-28

9

√

√

√

√

√

√

6

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

3

1

21

17

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

11

√

√

√

√

√

√

6

√

√

√

√

√

5

√

√

√

3

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

12

72

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 9:   Availability of data on femicide in 

EU Member States

Member 
State

Femicide

Other

Administra-
tive source

Available classifications  
for statistical data

Sex/age  
of victim

Relationship between 
victim/offender

NO

Homicide

Police

Justice

Police

Homicide

Police

Police

BE

BG

CZ

DK

DE

EE
IE
EL
ES

FR

NO

YES

NO

YES

NO
NO
NO
YES

YES

Homicide
Homicide
Homicide

Police
Police
Police
Police/justice Homicide

Police/justice

HR

YES

Police

IT

YES

Police

CY

NO

Homicide

Police/justice

LV

LT

LU

YES

YES

NO

Police

Justice

Homicide

Police

Murder (parricide/infanticide/
poisoning/explosion/others/non-
specified)/assassination (parricide/
infanticide/poisoning/explosion/
others)
NO INFO
Sexual murders/murders motivated 
by personal relations/contracted 
murders/other murders
NO INFO
Murder and manslaughter, includ-
ing attempted murder
NO INFO
NO INFO
Murder

Homicides for other reasons/vol-
untary assault resulting in death 
(police); murder by partner (justice)
Murder/negligent homicide/bod-
ily injury/serious bodily injury/
particularly serious bodily injury/
attempted murder/causing death 
by negligence
Voluntary murder for the purpose 
of theft or robbery/voluntary mafia-
style murders/voluntary murders 
in attacks/attempted murders/
infanticide/unintentional homicide/
manslaughter/manslaughter by car 
accident
Wounding and similar acts (vio-
lence within the family) 
/causing grievous bodily harm, etc. 
(violence within the family)
Articles 116 to 124 of Criminal Law 
(includes provoked suicide and 
infanticide)
Murder/murder in state of passion/
negligent homicide
Murder

YES/YES

YES-not specified

YES/YES

YES-not specified

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

NO

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES
YES/YES
YES/YES
YES/YES

YES-not specified
Recording not systematic
NO
YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-partial

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-not specified

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

73

ANNEXES

EIGE

Member 
State

Femicide

Other

Administra-
tive source

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES
YES
YES
YES

HU

MT

NL

AT

PL

PT

RO
SI
SK
FI

SE

Police/Justice

Homicide

Police

Police/Justice

Police

Homicide

Justice

Police

Available classifications  
for statistical data
Homicide/Manslaughter/attempted 
murder/bodily harm causing death 
(Police); Homicide/Manslaughter/
attempted murder (Justice)
NO INFO
Murder/Manslaughter (Police); 
Homicide/attempted homicide/
manslaughter/attempted man-
slaughter (Justice)
Data is categorised according to 
paragraphs in Criminal Code
NO INFO
Qualified Murder/Attempted Quali-
fied Murder/Simple Murder/Simple 
Attempted Murder/Murder with 
Understandable Reason/Attempted 
Murder

Police/Justice Homicide
Police
Police/Justice NO INFO
Police

Murder/Manslaughter

Intentional homicide
Completed murder, voluntary 
and involuntary manslaughter, 
infanticide, assault leading to death 
(Police); Murder/manslaughter/as-
sault with a lethal outcome (Justice)
Homicide

Sex/age  
of victim

Relationship between 
victim/offender

YES/YES

YES-not specified

YES/YES

NO

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner*

YES/YES

YES-partial

YES/YES

YES-partial

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

YES/YES
YES/YES
YES/YES
YES/YES

YES-intimate partner
YES-intimate partner
YES-intimate partner*
YES-intimate partner

YES/YES

YES-not specified

YES/YES

YES-intimate partner

NO

Homicide

Police/Justice

UK
EU-28

YES

Police

Data availability is based on collected/published data, regardless of whether there are legal definitions of femicide. Wherever there 
are data available on homicide with a relationship breakdown specific enough to indicate an intimate partnership, femicide column 
indicates ‘Yes’.

* Only confirmed for Police. Note: the table provides an overview of police and justice sources, with the available breakdowns and 
contextual information. The criteria for inclusion for police and justice sectors is that at least one institution from either sector must 
be able to provide data on the disaggregation mentioned in the table.

74

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

EIGE

ANNEXES

Annex 10:  The Council of the European Union 

indicators on violence against women

Category

Indicators on domestic 
 violence against women

Scope of the indicator

The number of female victims of domestic violence Indicators that can facilitate an evalu-

I. Profile of female victims of 
violence

II. Profile of male perpetrators

Background information on the female victims

The number of male perpetrators involved in 
domestic violence

Background information on the perpetrator

III. Victim support

Types of victim support

IV. Measures addressing the male  
perpetrator to end the circle of  
violence

Measures addressing the male perpetrator  
to end the circle of violence

V. Training of professionals

Type of training

VI. State measures to eliminate  
domestic violence against 
women

Target groups

Legislation and justice

Surveys and projects

Policy

VII. Evaluation

Awareness raising/preventative measures

Budget

Progress made

Lessons learned

ation of the implementation of the 
Beijing Platform for Action and that 
can help to raise awareness

Indicators that can promote the 
exchange of best practice

Indicators that can help to evaluate 
the measures used in achieving the 
goal, including policy measures

Terminology and indicators for data collection:
Rape, femicide and intimate partner violence

75

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83

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