China does not routinely publish detailed official statistics on femicide or intimate partner homicide.
Cultural stigma, underreporting, and limited access to justice for victims contribute to a lack of transparent data. Moreover, femicide is often subsumed under broader homicide or domestic violence statistics, obscuring gender-specific patterns.
Femicide remains a significant but underreported issue in China, reflecting broader patterns seen across Asia.
While comprehensive, country-specific statistics on femicide in China are scarce due to data limitations and reporting challenges, regional and global estimates provide insight into the scale and nature of the problem.
According to a 2024 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women, Asia recorded over 18,000 women killed by intimate partners or family members in 2023 alone, making it one of the regions with the highest absolute numbers of such femicides globally.
The report highlights that Asia’s rate of intimate partner and family-related femicide is estimated at approximately 0.8 victims per 100,000 women, significantly lower than Africa’s 2.9, but still representing thousands of women’s lives lost annually.
This figure includes killings within domestic settings, often linked to intimate partner violence, a pervasive issue in the region.
China, as the most populous country in Asia, is believed to contribute a substantial portion of these figures, though exact national data remain limited.
The UNODC and UN Women have stressed the need for improved data collection systems and institutional coordination in Asia, including China, to understand better and address femicide.
Efforts such as the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls are being piloted in some Asian countries to enhance reporting accuracy, but China has yet to publicly adopt such frameworks.
Studies suggest that intimate partner violence is a significant driver of femicide in China, mirroring global trends where approximately 60 per cent of women killed by men are murdered by current or former partners or family members.
Intimate partner violence remains a widespread crisis in China, with surveys suggesting that around one-third of women experience some form of domestic violence during their lifetime.
High-profile cases occasionally bring attention to femicide, but systemic responses remain limited.
Though the Chinese government enacted the 2016 Anti-Domestic Violence Law, enforcement challenges persist, and protective measures for women at risk are seen as inadequate.
Dr Pittman Potter, a China law expert, noted that despite laws protecting women’s rights, “the biggest disappointment of this law rests in the weakness of its enforcement provisions”.
Patriarchal norms, gender inequality, and social stigma around reporting abuse contribute to the persistence of violence against women in China. Economic pressures, rural-urban divides, and limited support services further exacerbate women’s vulnerability to lethal violence.
Experts have stated that femicide is the most extreme manifestation of gender-based violence and call for comprehensive prevention strategies. These include legal reforms, improved victim support, public awareness campaigns, and better training for law enforcement and judicial officials.
The 2024 UNODC/UN Women report, released on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, urged countries worldwide to strengthen legislation, data collection, and accountability mechanisms to end femicide.
As the global community marked the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in March 2025, renewed commitments to gender equality and violence prevention remain critical.
