Istat: 14.9% of women have suffered violence before the age of 16

14.9% of women aged 16 to 75 have suffered at least one violence - physical or sexual - before the age of 16: 15.3% of Italian women, equal to approximately three million, and 11.4% of foreign women, over 244 thousand women. The violence occurred mainly at the hands of people known or within the family. This emerges from the Istat report "Violence against women from childhood to adulthood - Year 2025".

Physical violence affects substantially similar shares in the two populations (9.2% among Italians and 9.6% among foreigners), while sexual violence is more frequent among Italians (8.2% versus 3.4%), who as young people suffer sexual harassment more frequently than foreigners, exactly as happens among adult women. The analysis highlights that this violence is perpetrated mainly by people known to the victim, as happens with violence suffered by women after the age of 16. In fact, 13.5% of Italian women and 11.2% of foreign women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence from at least one known person (including family members and relatives), while the shares referring to a stranger are equal to 2.1% and 0.6% respectively. Among known people, parents play a significant role, indicated by 3.9% of Italians and 4.3% of foreigners, in particular the father or stepfather (2.7% and 3.7%). Followed by other family members, friends, acquaintances by sight and other figures, such as teachers, healthcare personnel or religious people, with lower frequencies.