Rape statistics

Statistics on rape and other sexual assaults are commonly available in industrialized countries, and are becoming more common throughout the world. Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading. In some jurisdictions, male-female rape is the only form of rape counted in the statistics. Countries may or may not criminalize marital rape.

Rape is a severely under-reported crime with surveys showing dark figures of up to 91.6%. Prevalence of reasons for not reporting rape differ across countries. They may include fear of retaliation, uncertainty about whether a crime was committed or if the offender intended harm, not wanting others to know about the rape, not wanting the offender to get in trouble, fear of prosecution (e.g. due to laws against premarital sex), and doubt in local law enforcement.

A United Nations statistical report compiled from government sources showed that more than 250,000 cases of rape or attempted rape were recorded by police annually. The reported data covered 65 countries.

Most rape research and reporting to date has been limited to male-female forms of rape. Research on male-male and female-male is beginning to be done. However, almost no research has been done on female-female rape, though women can be charged with rape in a few jurisdictions. A few books, such as Violent Betrayal: Partner Abuse in Lesbian Relationships by Dr. Claire M. Renzetti,No More Secrets: Violence in Lesbian Relationships by Janice Ristock, and Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call It Rape? by Lori B. Girshick also cover the topic of rape of women by other women.

This table indicates the number of, and per capita cases of recorded rape by country. It does not, and of course cannot, include cases of rape which go unreported or unrecorded. It does not specify whether recorded means reported, brought to trial, or convicted. Each entry is based on that country's definition of rape, which varies widely throughout the world. The list does not include the estimated rape statistics of the countries, per year, such as South Africa having 500,000 rapes per year,China having 31,833 rapes a year,Egypt having more than 200,000 rapes a year, and the United Kingdom at 85,000 rapes a year.

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