Vartanova, Irina , Eriksson, Kimmo , Strimling, Pontus | 2026
PLOS Global Public Health
Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is a major global public health problem. Social norms that accept IPVAW are a key correlate of its prevalence, and recent research has documented a widespread, long-term global decline in such acceptability. What societal changes underlie this normative shift and whether it is associated with a reduction in violence are not yet well understood. We analyzed Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data from 1999–2024, including responses from 1,920,105 women across 69 countries and 539,470 men across 60 countries. We calculated the annualized rate of change between the first and last available survey waves for each country. We tested the association between these country-level trends and longitudinal changes in the Human Development Index (HDI) and Gender Development Index (GDI) at a 4-year lag. We also examined whether trends in acceptability were correlated with trends in the reported prevalence of physical IPVAW. Acceptability of IPVAW declined in 94% of countries for women and 89% for men, with a mean annual decline of approximately 1.3 percentage points. Countries with faster increases in HDI tended to show faster declines in acceptability at a 4-year lag (women: r = -0.33; men: r = -0.54). Overall societal development (HDI) showed somewhat stronger associations with declining acceptability than gender-specific equity gains (GDI). Finally, countries with faster declines in acceptability tended to show faster reductions in physical IPVAW prevalence (r = 0.35). This study provides the first cross-national evidence that improvements in human development are associated with a global decline in the acceptability of IPVAW, and that this normative shift corresponds with reductions in experienced violence. These findings are consistent with a role for comprehensive development investments in education, health, and economic prosperity, though the design cannot establish that such investments cause reductions in violence against women.
