GENEVA, Nov 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nearly one in three women have experienced intimate partner or sexual violence, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, warning no society "can call itself fair, safe or healthy while half its population lives in fear".

"Violence against women is one of humanity's oldest and most pervasive injustices, yet still one of the least acted upon," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

In a fresh report, the UN health agency estimated that 840 million women globally -- nearly a third -- have experienced violence by an intimate partner, meaning someone they are in a romantic relationship with, or sexual violence in their lifetime.

In the past year alone, 316 million women -- 11 percent of those over the age of 15 -- faced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, the report showed.

Progress had been "painfully slow", WHO said, pointing out that intimate partner violence had declined by only 0.2 percent annually over the past two decades.

LynnMarie Sardinha, with WHO's department of sexual, reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health and ageing, warned the number of reported cases might even begin to rise.

"Increased awareness will likely lead to more reports of violence," she told reporters.

- 'Stark picture' -

For the first time, the WHO report also includes national and regional estimates of sexual violence committed by someone other than an intimate partner.

It determined that a full 263 million women had experienced non-partner sexual violence since the age of 15, cautioning the problem was "significantly under- reported due to stigma and fear".

Wednesday's analysis covers data collected between 2000 and 2023 across 168 countries, "revealing a stark picture of a deeply neglected crisis", WHO said.

The report lamented that despite mounting evidence on effective strategies to prevent violence against women, funding for such initiatives was "collapsing".

In 2022, for instance, just 0.2 percent of global development aid went to programmes focused on preventing violence against women.

The report underscored that violence against women begins early.

For example, WHO pointed out that in the past 12 months alone, 12.5 million adolescent girls -- 16 percent of those between the ages of 15 and 19 -- have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner.

- Conflicts, climate impact -

Women everywhere are at risk.

"The results highlight a tragic reality for women and girls worldwide ... in almost essentially every community," Jeremy Farrar, WHO's assistant director-general for health promotion, disease prevention and care, told reporters.

However, the data indicates that women in poorer countries and those affected by conflict or global warming are disproportionately affected.

Climate change "can result in floods, it can result in famines, it can result in other types of natural disasters," explained Avni Amin, head of WHO's rights and equality unit.

As with war and conflict, this can drive people from their homes, or create economic insecurity, which can increase stress at home, as well as disrupt law and order -- all of which "increases the risk", Amin said.

The worst situation is found in Oceania -- the island countries of the Pacific, excluding Australia and New Zealand.

There, 38 percent of women reported intimate partner violence in the past year -- more than three times the global average of 11 percent, the report showed.

In southern Asia that figure was 19 percent, while in Africa it ranged from 14 to 17 percent.

In Europe and North America meanwhile, five percent of women reported experiencing violence, while seven percent did in Latin America and the Caribbean, the report showed.