(Bloomberg) -- The likelihood of a South African woman being killed by her partner almost halved between 1999 and 2017.
In 2017 murders of women in the country by their intimate partners fell to a rate of 4.8 per 100,000 women from 8.8 in 1999, according to research based on police and medical records carried out by the South African Medical Research Council. Overall the chance of a woman being murdered declined to 11.2 per 100,000, compared with 24.7 in the 1999 study, the council said.
The decline comes after years of pressure on the government to take steps to combat what is one of the world's highest rates of femicide, with national campaigns held to highlight the scourge. Overall, the country has one of the world's highest murder rates.
“Although the fight is far from over, this is an important and exciting finding,” Glenda Gray, the president of the council, said in a statement. “It further shows that we can turn the tide of gender-based violence and femicide in the country.”
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
