Rape is a particularly complex crime to analyse. In several parts of the world, it is very rarely reported. Women in some countries are much less likely to have their complaint recorded, due to the extreme social stigma cast on women who have been raped, or subjected to violence or the fear of being disowned by their families.

Rape and other sexual assaults statistics are commonly available in advanced countries, and are becoming more common. Large numbers of rapes go unreported throughout the world. Here, we’ve presented the statistics for 10 renowned countries with highest rape crimes. You would be amazed to see that the most developed countries like America, Canada, Sweden and United Kingdom are the most immersed in this crime. About 36% of women globally have experienced either physical or sexual intimate violence. In U.S. 83% of girls aged 12 to 16 have experienced some form of sexual harassment in public schools. In England, 1 out of 5 women (aged 16 to 59) experience some form of sexual violence.

The top 10 countries with highest rape crimes in the world (updated 2020).

10. Denmark and Finland

One out of three women in Europe have suffered some form of physical or sexual assault and 5% have been raped.

According to a 2014 study published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, approximately 47% of women surveyed in Finland were said to have suffered physical and/or sexual abuse; And 52 % of women in Denmark were said to have suffered physical and/or sexual abuse. Finland was one of the last countries in the EU to criminalize marital rape, making it illegal in 1994.

More than 1 in 10 of the women interviewed indicated that they experienced some form of sexual violence by an adult before they were 15 years old. One out of 10 had experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 15, one in 20 had been raped. And over 1 out of 5 had experienced physical and/or sexual violence from either a current or previous partner. Only 13 % of women reported their most serious incident to the police. (Source).

9. Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is at 9th position with the countries with highest rape crimes in the world. At least one woman is raped every 90 minutes in Zimbabwe. According to the latest statistics by Zimbabwe National Statistics (ZimStat), 500 women were sexually abused monthly – about 16 women being raped daily.

A total of 1524 cases were reported during the first 3 months of the year, up from 1285 recorded in the same period last year. Of these reported case, 780 are children (ages from 11 to 16 years) while 276 were children aged between 5 and 10 years. However, there are fears that the number could be higher as some cases go unreported. (Link).

According to UNICEF, Child rape up 42 percent in Zimbabwe. It said the number of cases of rape of minors reported to police surged from 2,192 in 2010 to 3,112 in 2014. Many other cases likely went unreported in a climate of secrecy and denial.

8. Australia

In Australia the reported rape rate per 100,000 people is relatively high. During the last year, an estimated 51,200 Australians aged 18 years and over were a victim of sexual assault. Almost a third (30%) of victims of sexual assault had the most recent incident they experienced reported to the police.

According to news.com, 1 out of 6 Australian women has to face the torture of rape by a non-partner, compared to one in 14 women around the world. It said that Australian women aged over 15 are victims of rape. Australia (with New Zealand in the research) came third in the worldwide study with 16.4 % of women reporting being raped by someone other than a partner.

Karen Willis, the NSW Rape Crisis Centre executive officer, says more than 70 % of these sexual assaults are carried out by family members, friends, work or school colleagues. A further 29 % of rapes are perpetrated by someone the woman meets socially or occur on a date. Just 1% of rapes are committed by strangers, she said.

See also; Top 10 Heinous and Historic Hate Crimes.

7. Canada

Among all violent crimes reported to police, sexual assault showed a rapid increase in reported rates in Canada. According to huffingtonpost, there are 460,000 sexual assaults in the country every year. Its said that 33 out of every 1,000 sexual assault cases are reported to the police, and 29 are recorded as a crime.

One out of 4 North American women has to face the torture of rape during their lifetime. 11% of women have physical injury resulting this torture. According to the statistics, only 6% of incidents are reported to the police. Over 80% of victims are women, maximum incidents occur in the home and 80% of assailants are friends and family of the victim. The most disturbing fact is that 83% of disabled women will be sexual assaulted during their lifetime. About all sexual assault victims, 17% are girls and 15% are boys under 16.

6. New Zealand

In 2013, The Roast Busters scandal exposed the truth about rape in New Zealand. A group of young men from West Auckland, calling themselves “Roast Busters”, who allegedly sought to intoxicate underage girls to gang rape them.

According to a report by British medical journal The Lancet sexual assault rate in New Zealand is far higher than the world average. It placed the country at the third highest rate with 16.4 % of its female population, alongside Australia.

According to the Minister of Justice Publication Report; Every two hours an attack involving sexual violence is happening in New Zealand. Statistics now suggest that 1 out of 3 girls and one out of six boys are likely to be sexually abused before the age of 16.

Sexual assaults rose 15% in a year, and at schools the number doubled. Only 9 percent of sexual offences are reported (registered by police) in New Zealand. Of all the reported cases, only 13% end in a conviction. 91 % of the rapes either go unreported, or the victims are intimidated by the police to drop complaints. (New Zeeland Herald).

5. India

Rape and Sexual violence is a massive problem in India. According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), crimes against women have increased by 7.5% since 2010. The number of reported rapes in India, a country of over 1.2 billion people, has gone up to 33,707 in 2013 from 24,923 in 2012. The majority of rape victims are between 18 years and 30 years. About one out of three victims is below 18, and one in ten rape victims is under 14. In India, a woman is being raped after every 20 minutes.

See also; Hindu Swamis and their Scandals.

As per 2013 statistics, New Delhi has the highest number of reported rape crimes among Indian cities. Last year, on average four rape cases were reported in the city. In number of total rape cases, New Dehli (1,636) was followed by Mumbai (391), Jaipur (192) and Pune (171). Madhya Pradesh is the highest among all other states with an average records 11 rapes every day. Madhya Pradesh (4,335 cases) was followed by Rajasthan (3,285 cases), Maharashtra (3,063 cases) and Uttar Pradesh (3,050 rape cases).

In addition, 93 women are being raped in the country every day. The majority of the offenders are known to the victims – 31,807 (94%) were familiar to the accused, which includes neighbours (10782), other known persons (18171), relatives (2315) and parents (539). (timesofindia).

Most rapes go unreported in India and the rest of the world. According to Madiha Kark, an estimated 54% of rape cases are unreported, while Mihir Srivastava estimates 90% of rapes go unreported in India. (Source).

4. England and Wales

Rape in the United Kingdom is not a gender neutral offense. It is an offense that can only be committed by a male against a person. Also the UK has not to date followed the trend in many countries of classifying acts other than penetration with a penis (e.g. penetration with an object, finger) as rape. (Rape statistics United Kingdom).

According to a report entitled “An Overview of Sexual Offending in England and Wales”, released in 2013, by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Home Office; Approximately 85,000 victims of rape per year in England and Wales – 73,000 females and 12,000 males, equating to about 230 cases every day. The report stated that 1 in every 5 women has experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 16. See the full report, a summary and/or the data tables here.

According to the BBC reports, the number of rapes reported to and recorded by police is at its highest ever level, increase by 29 percent as overall crime falls in England and Wales.

According to a study by the NSPCC on young people (aged between 13–18), a third of girls and 16 percent of boys have experienced sexual violence and that as many as 250,000 teenage girls are suffering from abuse at any one time. 12 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls reported committing sexual violence against their partners.

3. USA

According to George Mason University, Worldwide Sexual Assault Statistics, 1 in 3 American women will be sexually abused during their lifetime. About 19.3% of women and 2% of men have been raped at least once in their lives. Additionally, an estimated 43.9% of women and 23.4% of men experienced other forms of sexual violence during their lifetimes. Many victims of sexual abuse were victimized at a young age, about 79% were first raped before age 25, and 40% before age 18. (source; usatoday).

According to RAIIN, Every 107 seconds, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. There is an average of 293,000 victims (age 12 or older) of sexual assault each year. 68% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. 98% of rapists will never spend a day in jail.

Rape And Sexual Assault Among College-Age:

An average (65,668+ & 2,866+) college-age women and men experienced a rape sexual assault annually. More than a quarter of college-age women report having experienced a rape or rape attempt since age 14. Out of all, only 16% of the total cases are reported. Females ages 18 to 24 had higher rates of rape and sexual assault than females in other age groups. Rate of rape crime is 1.2 times higher for non-students than students. Female students were more likely to experience rape or sexual assault victimization away from home, while non-students were more likely to be at home. Among females living in rural areas, the rate of rape and sexual assault victimization was almost 2 times higher for non-students. (Bureau of Justice Statistics).

Rape Crimes in Prisons in the USA;

According to The Department for Justice, more men are raped in the U.S. than woman in prisons – 216,000 prisoners are raped per year in the U.S. According to the latest National Inmate Survey, 4% of prisoners, 3.2% of people in jail and 9.5% of those in juvenile detention said they had been the victim of sexual abuse. Almost 7% of women said they had been sexually abused by a fellow inmate, while more men said they had been assaulted by staff.

2. Sweden

Sweden now has the second highest number of rapes in the world, after South Africa, which at 53.2 per 100,000. Statistics now suggest that 1 out of every 4 Swedish women comes out to be the victim of rape. If you look at the number of rapes, however, the increase is even worse. In 1975, there were only 421 rapes reported to the police – in 2014, it was 6,620. That is an increase of 1,472%. It would seem Sweden is a much more dangerous place for women in the world.

In addition, Sweden has the highest rate of rape in Europe. In 2013, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå), there were 63 rape cases per 100,000 population reported to the Swedish police.

According to rape crisis advocates in Sweden, 1 out of 3 Swedish women have been sexually assaulted by the time they leave their teens. During the first half of 2013, more than 1,000 Swedish women reported being raped by Muslim immigrants in the Stockholm; over 300 of those were under the age of 15.

1. South Africa

With an estimated of 500,000 rape cases every year, the country has one of the highest rate of Rape Crimes in the world. It is estimated that more than 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime. The Medical Research Council has estimated that only 1 in 9 rapes are reported. Thus the actual numbers of rapes is much higher than numbers recorded by the police.

With the highest reported incident of Rape Crimes, South Africa top the list. The majority of sexual violence is against women, but men and children are also subjected to this crime. According to a report, above 4% of men have been forced to have sex with other men. According to South African Police, children are victims of 41% of all reported rape cases. About 15% of rape victims are children under the age of 11. According to South Africa’s Tears Foundation and the Medical Research Council, 50% of South Africa’s children will be abused before the age of 18. Another source states that there were 24,892 rapes and attempted rapes of children under the age of 18. (Sexual violence in South Africa).