Around 50 million women in the European Union, nearly one in three, have experienced physical or sexual violence in adulthood.

Omissions

• The claim omits the age range: the survey covers women aged 18–74, not all adult women of any age.
• The Eurostat definition of physical violence includes threats of physical violence, which slightly broadens the scope beyond what a lay listener might understand as 'physical violence'.
• The data comes from the EU-GBV survey wave 2021 (fieldwork 2020–2021), published in November 2024. The MEP did not cite this source, but the figures align precisely with it.
• The survey covers the EU-27; the claim does not specify whether it refers to the current EU-27 or a broader geographic scope, but the figure matches the EU-27 data.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostatAround 50 million women aged 18-74 in the EU, or 31%, experienced physical (including threats) or sexual violence in adulthood, based on the EU gender-based violence survey.
• PrimaryEuropean CommissionAround 50 million women aged 18-74 in the EU, or 31%, experienced physical (including threats) or sexual violence in adulthood.
• SecondaryUNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe)sexual violence in adulthood. This amounts up to 50 million women aged 18-74 in the EU. In other words, around every third woman in the EU.