Number of women aged 18-29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18

Number of women aged 18-29 years

Sexual violence is one of the most unsettling of children’s rights violations. Experiences of sexual violence in childhood hinder all aspects of development: physical, psychological/emotional and social. Apart from the physical injuries that can result, researchers have consistently found that the sexual abuse of children is associated with a wide array of mental health consequences and adverse behavioural outcomes in adulthood. The issue is universally relevant and the indicator captures one of the gravest forms of violence against children. The right of children to protection from all forms of violence is enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocols.

Within the International Classification of Violence against Children (ICVAC), sexual violence is defined as ‘Any deliberate, unwanted and non-essential act of a sexual nature, either completed or attempted, that is perpetrated against a child, including for exploitative purposes, and that results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, pain or psychological suffering.’ Sexual violence against a child can take many forms including rape, sexual assault or non-contact sexual violence (see ICVAC for detailed definitions).

The availability of comparable data remains a serious challenge in this area as many data collection efforts have relied on different study methodologies and designs, definitions of sexual violence, samples and questions to elicit information. Data on the experiences of boys are particularly sparse. A further challenge in this field is underreporting, especially when it comes to reporting on experiences of sexual violence among boys and men.

Number of young women and men aged 18-29 years who report having experienced any sexual violence by age 18 divided by the total number of young women and men aged 18-29 years, respectively, in the population multiplied by 100.

Sex, age, income, place of residence, geographic location, marital status, education

UNICEF does not produce modelled estimates for countries with no data sources.

The data sources used to inform and derive the global and regional estimates of contact sexual violence against girls and boys produced by UNICEF include two categories (referred to as tier 1 and tier 2). Tier 1 data sources are nationally representative household surveys with broadly comparable data that are included in the official global database for SDG indicator 16.2.3. Tier 1 data sources for the majority of countries are either Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) or Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), both of which are multi-topic household surveys implemented as part of a standardized international survey programme. To complement this, available data from other nationally representative surveys were used (that is, tier 2 sources). These included domestic violence surveys, school-based surveys, surveys on child maltreatment and violence, and regional surveys on violence against women, which also met some predefined criteria.

Several corrections and systematic adjustments were applied to the available data sources to align them (as far as possible) with a common definition of sexual violence and to correct and address underlying data quality issues such as underreporting and missing data on age at first experience of sexual violence. Such corrections and adjustments were applied at the level of the available data sources and reflected in the regional and global estimates. Country-level estimates are published without adjustments/corrections.

The global and regional prevalence of contact sexual violence against girls and boys represents population-weighted averages of national estimates for countries with available data. When internationally comparable country-level data are available for at least 50 per cent of the regional population for the relevant age group, the regional average is applied to countries with missing values for the purposes of calculating regional aggregates, but imputed country-level values are not published.

Regional aggregates are weighted averages of all the countries within the region.

The country estimates compiled and presented in the global SDG database have been re-analyzed by UNICEF in order to obtain estimates for the standard age group for reporting (i.e., ages 18-29 years) since data for this age group are not typically available in published survey reports.

Countries gather data on childhood experiences of sexual violence through household surveys such as the Demographic and Health Surveys. In some countries, such data are also collected through other national household surveys, including dedicated surveys on violence. This indicator captures all experiences of sexual violence that occurred during childhood (i.e. prior to the age of 18 years) regardless of the legal age of consent stipulated in relevant national legislation.

UNICEF maintains the global database on sexual violence in childhood that is used for SDG and other official reporting. Before the inclusion of any data point in the database, it is reviewed by technical focal points at UNICEF headquarters to check for consistency and overall data quality. This review is based on a set of objective criteria to ensure that only the most recent and reliable information are included in the databases. These criteria include the following: data sources must include proper documentation; data values must be representative at the national population level; data are collected using an appropriate methodology (e.g., sampling); data values are based on a sufficiently large sample; data conform to the standard indicator definition including age group and concepts, to the extent possible; data are plausible based on trends and consistency with previously published/reported estimates for the indicator. As of 2018, UNICEF undertakes an annual consultation with government authorities on 10 of the child-related SDG indicators in its role of sole or joint custodian, and in line with its global monitoring mandate and normative commitments to advancing the 2030 Agenda for children. This includes indicator 16.2.3.

Nationally representative and comparable data are currently available for women from around 60 low- and middle-income countries.

Not Available

Household surveys such as DHS have been collecting data on this indicator in low- and middle-income countries since the late 1990s. The DHS includes a standard module that captures information on rape (ICVAC category 301) and sexual assault of a child (ICVAC category 302) but does not collect information about non-contact sexual violence against children (ICVAC category 303). In recent years, some countries conducting MICS have included the standard, or an adapted, version of the DHS module. Respondents are asked whether, at any time in their lives (as children or adults), anyone ever forced them – physically or in any other way – to have sexual intercourse or to perform any other sexual acts against their will. Those responding ‘yes’ to this question are then asked how old they were the first time this happened. It is important to flag that the DHS module was not specifically designed to capture experiences of sexual violence in childhood and while it produces data that can be used to report on 16.2.3, methodological work is underway to develop standard questions specifically designed to measure sexual violence against children in all its forms (i.e., both contact and non-contact).

UNICEF undertakes a wide consultative process of compiling and assessing data from national sources for the purposes of updating its global databases on the situation of children. Up until 2017, the mechanism UNICEF used to collaborate with national authorities on ensuring data quality and international comparability on key indicators of relevance to children was known as Country Data Reporting on the Indicators for the Goals (CRING).

As of 2018, UNICEF launched a new country consultation process with national authorities on selected child-related global SDG indicators for which it is custodian or co-custodian to meet emerging standards and guidelines on data flows for global reporting of SDG indicators, which place strong emphasis on technical rigour, country ownership and use of official data and statistics. The consultation process involves soliciting feedback directly from National Statistical Offices, as well as other government agencies responsible for official statistics, on the latest available national data source and estimates for each indicator. Countries have the opportunity to submit new or updated data sources and estimates to be considered for official SDG reporting. A thorough technical assessment is conducted by UNICEF as the custodian agency, in consultation with the country, and feedback is made available to countries on whether or not specific data sources and data points are accepted for official SDG reporting, and if not, the reasons why.

UNICEF will undertake an annual country consultation likely between November and January every year to allow for review and processing of the feedback received in order to meet global SDG reporting deadlines.

Annually in March.

National Statistical Offices (for the most part) or line ministries/other government agencies that have conducted national surveys on sexual violence against women and men.

URL: data.unicef.org References: http://data.unicef.org/child-protection/sexual-violence.html

For indicator 16.2.3, elimination is defined as 0.1 per cent prevalence or less.

For indicator 16.2.3, trends in the prevalence of sexual violence in childhood are assessed by comparing the values across two age cohorts (aged 18–19 and 25–29) from the most recent available data source. The AARC was calculated over a 7-year period. The country is considered on track if the observed AARC is sufficient to reach elimination by 2030. An additional criterion for a country to be considered on track was a prevalence of 0 per cent for sexual violence ever experienced among those aged 15–17.

Due to very low levels reported for indicator 16.2.3 in most countries, the ‘on track’ analyses need to be interpreted with some degree of caution, as the observed changes used to determine a country’s progress may be within confidence intervals.