Femicide rate in Europe
First of all, a femicide is a sex-based hate crime term, commonly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female", though definitions vary depending on its cultural context.
Domestic violence continues to be a scourge across Europe and, although some countries have managed to slightly curb the numbers of domestic violence, the coronavirus pandemic is making it even more difficult to combat because many victims have been forced to live with their abusers for longer periods of time and even in confinement.
The map colors show the femicide rate calculated from Intentional homicide victims by victim-offender relationship and sex - number and rate for the relevant sex group, that is we have sum up the values of the family and relatives and the values of intimate partner.
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Eastern Europe
As we can check at the map, most of the eastern european countries have an undefined data. Even so, the few that are available (Latvia and Lithuania) have a alarmingly high femicide rates.
Iceland
In Iceland the femicide rate in 2019 was of 0 per hundred thousand inhabitants. This country had the lowest femicide rate of Europe.
Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of domestic violence in Iceland have risen; two women were allegedly murdered by family members in the first weeks of the country’s partial lockdown, a significant spike for a country of just 360,000 people.
Spain
In Spain the femicide rate in 2019 was of 0.2 per hundred thousand inhabitants.
Several specialists had warned that this kind of crime would spike following the end of the state of alarm introduced in March 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. While Spain’s strict home confinement ended three months later, tough mobility restrictions remained in place until May 8 of this year, preventing citizens from traveling to other regions, cities, and sometimes even neighborhoods.
The government delegate in charge of gender violence affairs, recently said in an interview with this newspaper that "Covid-19 is a pandemic on top of another pandemic: gender violence. When restrictions get lifted, you see what lay beneath.".
Latvia
In Latvia the femicide rate in 2019 was of 1.51 per hundred thousand inhabitants. This country has one of the highest femicide rate of Europe or, at least, one of the highest of the available european countries femicide rate data.
Montenegro
In Monetnegro the femicide rate in 2019 was of 1.6 per hundred thousand inhabitants. This country has the highest femicide rate of Europe or, at least, the highest of the available european countries femicide rate data.
Conclusion
To end up, a few factors had been identified as elements which contributes to femicide. These are: low number of women in elected government, reductions in government social spending on areas such as health and education, prior intimate partner abuse; no mandated arrest for violation of restraining orders ...
Credits
The statistical data was obtained in Eurostat website. The 2019 data downloaded was: "Intentional homicide victims by victim-offender relationship and sex - number and rate for the relevant sex group", in the unit measure "Per hundred thousand inhabitants".