last updated February 1, 2006
Battering imposes significant costs on the community. In a 2003 report, Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) estimate that the health-related costs of intimate partner violence in the United States exceed $5.8 billion per year. In describing the findings of the CDCP's study, the Family Violence Prevention Fund reports that "[n]early 90 percent of these costs are attributable to intimate partner physical assaults, 6.7 percent to intimate partner rape and 3.7 percent to stalking." The World Health Organization reports that "[r]ape and domestic violence account for 5% to 16% of health years of life lost by women of reproductive age." From Chapter 4, World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life, World Health Organization 34 (2002). Another study, reported by UNICEF, estimates the direct cost in the United States to be between five and ten billion dollars annually. From UNICEF, Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls, 6 Innocenti Digest 1, 12 (2000).
The secondary effects of domestic violence involve the victim's ability to function in daily life. Victims of domestic violence often take more absences from work to visit the doctor. Battering may lead to feelings of shame, embarrassment and humiliation, particularly when beatings leave marks, which in turn may lead to further isolation from friends and family and to absences from work. Because of increased absences and substance abuse, battered women may find it difficult to maintain steady employment. Escaping the violence may require a complete abandonment of job, home and belongings. From Barbara Johnson, Reducing Intimate Partner Abuse: A Look at National, State, and Local Strategies for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (2002).
As the World Health Organization notes, these secondary effects of domestic violence represent significant indirect costs for society. A survey on violence against women in Canada revealed that 30% of battered women had to cease regular activities because of the violence, and 50% had to take sick leave from work because of injuries. A Nicaraguan study found that even after controlling for other factors that could affect earnings, women who were abused earned 46% less than women who were not abused. UNICEF reports that a study in Santiago, Chile, estimates that women who suffer physical violence earn, on average, less than half of the income of women who do not face violence at home. Of the $5.8 billion in health-related costs of intimate parter violence per year reported by the CDCP, $1.8 billion represents indirect costs such as lost wages and productivity. Lost productivity includes days of lost employment, household, childcare and other activities. The CDCP's report also includes as indirect costs the present value of lifetime earnings lost due to intimate partner homicide, but excludes the additional judicial and legal costs associated with intimate partner violence, the costs of the victims' pain and suffering, and certain medical costs, such as treatment for sexually transmitted diseases or home care.
A World Bank study conducted in 1993 indicates that rape and domestic violence "accounts for nearly one in five health years of life lost to women age 15 to 44." The World Bank study shows that the health burden resulting from rape and domestic violence is roughly equivalent in developing and industrial countries, but that violence is a smaller percentage of the overall health burden because this burden is greater in developing countries. "At a global level the health burden from gender-based victimization among women age 15 to 44 is comparable to that posed by other risk factors and diseases already high on the world agenda, including the human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis, sepsis during childbirth, cancer, and cardiovascular disease." From International Labour Organization, Sub-Regional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific, Online Training Module on Gender, Unit 2: Gender Issues in the World of Work, Health Consequences of Gender-based Violence.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund has developed a set of advocacy tools entitled The Business Case for Domestic Violence Programs in Health Care Settings. These tools include a forthcoming Return on Investment Tool and a downloadable PowerPoint presentation that provides information about the health care costs associated with domestic violence and makes "a persuasive argument about the potential to cut these costs with domestic violence intervention programs."
For a list of research and reports on the community costs of domestic violence, click here. | 