According to the World Health Organization, what is the prevalence of violence against women?

• A. One in four women has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
• B. One in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
• C. Half of women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
• D. One in five women has experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is the global scope of violence against women as a lifetime experience. The World Health Organization reports that about one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives. That’s roughly 33%, a figure drawn from population-based surveys across many countries and regions, and it reflects violence by intimate partners as well as other perpetrators. It’s a global average, so actual rates can vary by country and context, but this one-in-three estimate is the commonly cited summary that captures how widespread this issue is. The other percentages don’t align with WHO’s broad global statistic.