Traumatic. Painful. Irreversible. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a human rights violation that inflicts lifelong suffering on millions of women and girls. It is a harmful practice that persists because of cultural norms and myths. It has no health benefits and leaves survivors with long-lasting physical and psychological trauma.
An estimated 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, a number that has risen by 15 per cent – that’s 30 million more cases – over the past eight years.
Alarmingly, more than 2 million girls experience female genital mutilation annually, often before their fifth birthday and sometimes within days of being born.
The increase in number of women and girls experiencing female genital mutilation is due to rapid population growth in regions where the practice is most common, such as sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States. By 2050, the number of girls born annually in these regions is projected to grow by 62 per cent.
FAQs: Female genital mutilation (FGM)
What is female genital mutilation?
What are the consequences of female genital mutilation?
Where is female genital mutilation practiced?
Who is most at risk of female genital mutilation?
Why is female genital mutilation practiced?
What is the medicalization of female genital mutilation
What is being done to stop female genital mutilation?
What is UN Women doing to end female genital mutilation?
What is female genital mutilation?
Female genital mutilation refers to all procedures involving the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
It is also referred to as female circumcision or cutting.
Female genital mutilation is normally carried out between infancy and age 15, although older girls and women may also undergo the practice.
It is most often performed on minors by traditional practitioners, making it a violation of girls’ rights. Female genital mutilation also infringes upon fundamental human rights of girls and women, including their right to health, security, dignity, bodily autonomy and – in cases where the procedure leads to death – the right to life.
Female genital mutilation is classified into four types by the World Health Organization:
- Type 1 (Clitoridectomy): Partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or its surrounding tissue.
- Type 2 (Excision): Partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without removal of the labia majora.
- Type 3 (Infibulation): Narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a seal, formed by cutting and repositioning the labia.
- Type 4: All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, such as pricking, piercing, scraping, or cauterizing.
Female genital mutilation is categorized like this to reflect the different types of procedures that are performed and their impact on women and girls. These classifications help researchers, healthcare providers, and policymakers better understand how the practice varies in terms of severity and its health consequences. Regardless of whether it involves smaller cuts or extensive tissue removal, all forms of female genital mutilation inflict excruciating pain, physical and psychological harm, and serious health risks to women and girls.
What are the consequences of female genital mutilation?
Female genital mutilation has no health benefits for girls and women and causes immediate and long-term health consequences.
Immediate sexual and reproductive health issues include severe bleeding, infections, problems urinating, and debilitating pain.
Later in life, girls who have been subject to female genital mutilation face longer-term health risks, such as chronic pain, cysts, abnormal scarring, menstrual problems, sexual problems such as pain during intercourse and decreased satisfaction, infertility, complications in childbirth, postpartum hemorrhages, stillbirth, and increased risk of newborn deaths. In some cases, these complications are fatal to the woman.
The psychological impacts of female genital mutilation include girls losing trust in their caregivers, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and low self-esteem. The physical and psychological consequences of FGM can also become barriers for girls and women to learn, work, and socialize.
Where is female genital mutilation practiced?
Female genital mutilation is a global problem, and is reportedly carried out in 92 countries around the world including diaspora communities. Of those countries, just over half (51) have national laws prohibiting female genital mutilation.
- Africa: Female genital mutilation is reported in 33 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- Middle East: The practice occurs in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, State of Palestine, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
- Asia: Female genital mutilation has been documented in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, The Philippines, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and The Maldives.
- Europe: Female genital mutilation has been reported in Georgia, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom, often within migrant communities.
- Americas and Oceania: Cases have been identified in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as in some South American countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.
Who is most at risk of female genital mutilation?
According to UNFPA, in 2026, nearly 4.5 million girls – more than half of them under five years old – are at risk of undergoing the procedure.
Although efforts to prevent the practice have led to positive results – with the proportion of girls undergoing female genital mutilation dropping from just over 46 per cent in 1993, to just over 31 per cent in 2023 – population growth in the regions where the practice is prevalent poses significant challenges.
Girls living in poverty and in rural and remote areas are more likely to experience female genital mutilation. The practice is most widespread in Africa, where 144 million women and girls have been cut.
Encouragingly, countries like Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda have already achieved the target of eliminating female genital mutilation before 2030. Benin, the Maldives, Niger and Togo are also on track to achieve zero cases by the end of this decade.
But progress in eliminating female genital mutilation needs to be 27 times faster to meet the global target of elimination by 2030. If the rates of female genital mutilation continue at current levels, 68 million girls will be subjected to it between 2015 and 2030 in the 25 countries where female genital mutilation is routinely practiced….
Read more on https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/faqs/faqs-on-female-genital-mutilation-causes-impact-and-how-to-end-it
