Women and girls face record conflict deaths as peacebuilding funding falls in 2025

Women around the world protect survivors, help hold communities together and work to stop violence before it starts, Bahous said.

More than 37,000 civilians were killed in conflict last year, and women and girls accounted for one in four deaths, twice their share in 2021, according to the 2026 UN Secretary-General's report on Women, Peace and Security, released today.

About 750 million women and girls now live within 50 kilometres of an active conflict, 40 million more than in 2024 and more than at any point since 1990. UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said the growing number of women and girls trapped in war calls for greater investment in women's leadership, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, even as military spending rises and development assistance falls. She described support for this work as an urgent investment in peace.

For people living through conflict, the danger reaches beyond direct attacks: verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence nearly quadrupled between 2022 and 2025, and war deepens poverty and unpaid care burdens for women and girls.

Conflict puts women and girls at risk on many fronts

Around 170 million women and girls live in conflict zones and extreme poverty, surviving on less than USD 3 a day; they make up almost 40 per cent of women and girls living in extreme poverty worldwide. In conflict-affected countries, women and girls spend five times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men and boys, twice the global average.

Changing warfare and declining respect for international law add to those pressures. The growing use of drones and long-range weapons in populated areas, including deliberate attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, threatens places central to women's daily lives. AI-enabled military technologies bring further safety concerns for women and girls already facing violence, displacement and insecurity.

Women around the world protect survivors, help hold communities together and work to stop violence before it starts, Bahous said. Their work supports peace in communities affected by war, but their presence in formal negotiations remains limited: women made up just five per cent of negotiators across 57 peace processes in 2025, down from seven per cent the year before.

Funding shortfalls put women's organizations at risk

Global military expenditure reached a record USD 2.9 trillion in 2025, as 40 per cent of women's organizations in crisis-affected settings expect to close temporarily or permanently within the next year because of severe funding shortfalls. These groups mediate local tensions, shelter displaced people, support survivors and help communities stay connected, making their continued work essential to lasting peace.

UN Women calls for the protection of women and girls and their rights, meaningful participation in peace and security, and sustained investment in women-led conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The organization also calls for international law to be upheld and impunity to end.