The Economic Cost of Violence Against Women and Girls

Estimating the full cost of violence against women and girls (VAWG) will enable governments to understand the cost of prevention and management, and provide a basis for selecting appropriate interventions and policies. However, studies to date have mostly focused on the direct costs of violence, with few attempting to measure the indirect costs. At the same time, none of these methodologies captures the full economic impact of VAWG due to the lack of data and inability to integrate sectoral linkages.

This publication provides a comprehensive framework to assess the economic cost of VAWG. It applies an economy-wide modelling approach that enables governments to capture important linkages and secondary effects to assess the full impact of VAWG. The data gathered for this framework will be useful for countries when reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, SDG5 and SDG16. Moreover, the data gathering process also provides an opportunity to assess the strength of the national statistical system, which is crucial to measuring progress across all of the SDGs in a manner that is both inclusive and fair.

Seychelles is the first Commonwealth country where the framework has been applied using real country-level data and information. This book presents the process and outcomes of applying the newly developed framework and methodology to Seychelles.