Britain has some of the highest levels of violence against women in the EU, with 44 percent reporting to have suffered some form of violence since the age of 15.
The Daily Mail reports that a new study by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), who quizzed 42,000 women across the EU, says that a third of them had suffered a sexual or other physical assault.
But British women faired much worse than the European average, with the country ranking fourth-worse for violence against women. Denmark has the worst level (52 percent), followed by Finland (47 percent), Sweden (46 percent) and the Netherlands (45 percent).
The UK is also sixth-worse for violence committed by a non-partner, fourth-worst for violence by a current or former partner and third-worst for sexual violence before the age of 15. In fact, 40 percent reported experiencing some sort of violence before the age of 15.
Scandinavian countries also do particularly badly in the research. Not only does Denmark top the list for overall violence, Finland was worst for violence suffered by women under the age of 15 (53 percent), while Swedish women were most likely to have had a stalker.
FRA director Morten Kjaerum said that the report “shows that physical, sexual and psychological violence against women is an extensive human rights abuse in all EU Member States.”
He added: “What emerges is a picture of extensive abuse that affects many women’s lives, but is systematically under-reported to the authorities.”
You can see the full results at http://fra.europa.eu/en
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