'Violence against younger women high in Bangladesh'

Domestic violence against women is common and serious in both poor and rich countries and every country has a history of violence against women, says the report, which focused mainly on physical and sexual violence by male intimate partners.

The Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women Study involved 24,000 women in 15 sites of 10 countries representing diverse cultural settings: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Japan, Peru, Namibia, Samoa, Serbia and Montenegro, Thailand, and the United Republic of Tanzania.

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Who report reveals that in urban Bangladesh, the rate of domestic violence against younger women is 48 percent while against those aged 45 to 49 the rate is 10 percent.

The domestic violence statistics shows the rate of such violence against women is as high as 71 percent in Ethiopia, with most sites falling between 29 percent and 62 percent, who reported partner violence during their lifetime.

According to the report, Bangladesh and Ethiopia have low rates of divorce and separation.

In all settings except in provincial Bangladesh and Ethiopia, separated or divorced women were more likely to experience violence during their lifetime.

In the survey, physical violence was defined as any of violent acts including slapping, pushing, shoving, hitting with fist or an object, kicking, dragging, beating, choking, burning, threatening with a knife or gun, and/or forcing to have sexual conduct against a woman's will.

Sexual violence by an intimate partner victimized 6 percent of women in Japan and 59 percent in Ethiopia, with the majority of settings falling between 10 percent and 50 percent.

Four percent of women in Serbia and Montenegro to 46 percent in provincial Bangladesh and Ethiopia were physically forced into intercourse, the reports says.