SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

30% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

67% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18

51% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

74%of women 15-49 years think that ahusband/partner is justified in hitting/beating his wife under certaincircumstances

23%of women 15-49 years make use of atleast one type of information media atleast once a week (newspaper, magazinemagazine, television or radio)

National decree/legislation banning FGM passed

Source: DHS 2014-15

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 31 countries with representative data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and that of the entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in countries where it is still practised.1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.

STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

© UNICEF/UNI144402/Asselin

2003

CHAD

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

Nearly four in ten girls and women have undergone FGM in Chad, with the practice being more common among some ethnic and religious groups than others

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

More than eight out of ten adolescent girls who underwent FGM were cut between the ages of 5 and 14

Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. The category of ‘Other Christians’ includes ‘Protestant.’ Data on the prevalence of FGM among girls and women with ‘animist’ are based on 25-49 unweighted cases. Prevalence data for girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an underestimation the true extent of the practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth ttendants and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all charts on this page: DHS 2014-15

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 yearswho have undergone FGM, by region Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by ethnicity and religion

Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by age at which cutting occurred

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), according to

the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers),

by type of FGM performed

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), by residence, mother’s education and household wealth quintile

Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers),

by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue

10% - 25%

26% - 50%

51% - 80%

Above 80 %

Less than 10 %

38

0.4

50 40

15

8

32

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Muslim Noreligion

Ethnic group with highest prevalence

Ethnic group withlowest prevalence

RomanCatholic

OtherChristians

Animist

92

30

16

0

20

40

60

80

100

Daughters whose mothers think FGM

should should continue

Daughters whose mothers say it

depends/are not sure

11

Daughters whose mothers think FGM

should stop

518 2 434

0 20 40 60 80 100

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing

82

12

Other type

Don't know/Missing

Sewn closed6

1

Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel

Don’t know/Missing

2

96

0

20

40

60

80

100

10 910 124 3

10 8

Total Rural Urban Noeducation

Primary Secondaryor higher

Poorest Richest

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

Important variations in women’s support for FGM exist by ethnicity, wealth and education

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There has been no significant decline in the prevalence of FGM

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age

Source: DHS 2014-15, unless otherwise noted

Notes: N/A = not available. Data on women’s attitudes cannot be directly compared with men’s attitudes since the data source for girls and women is more recent than that for boys and men.

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM and percentage of girls and women aged15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue

Among girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, the percentage who cite specific benefits or

advantages for a girl to undergo the procedure

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by househo ld wealth quintile, education, ethnicity and age

Source: DHS 2014-15 for girls and women and DHS 2004 for boys and men Source: DHS 2004

45

49

29

41

26

10

0 20 40 60 80

Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure

Girlsand women

Boysand men

100

No benefitsCleanliness/HygieneSocial acceptanceBetter marriage prospectsPreservation of virginityMore sexual pleasure for the manRequired by religionOtherDon’t know

375

31872

234

N/A

29 35

16

39

17 10

69

3

29 26

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondaryor higher

Ethnic groupwith the

highest support

Ethnic groupwith the

lowest support

45-49 years 15-19 years

39 42 40 41 42 38 32

45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years 0

20

40

60

80

100

45 45 44

N/A

49

38

0

20

40

60

80

100

MICS 2000 DHS 2004 MICS 2010

Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue

38 29

DHS 2014-2015

CHAD

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Notes: In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.Updated January 2020

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017Website: data.unicef.org Email: data@unicef.org

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