SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

6% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

22% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18

15% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

29%of women 15-49 years think that ahusband/partner is justified in hitting/beating his wife/partner under certaincircumstances

61%of women 15-49 years make use of atleast one type of information mediaat least once a week (newspaper,magazine, television or radio)

Source: DHS 2013-14

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 30 countries with representative data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and thatof the entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in countries where it is still practised.

1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.

STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, RESEARCH AND POLICY

National decree/legislation banning FGM passed1998

TOGO

© UNICEF/UNI144402/Asselin

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

National prevalence of FGM is low in Togo, but certain ethnic groups are more likely to practice it than others

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

Two in three girls and women who underwent FGM had their genital area cut with some flesh removed

Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. Percentage distributions of girls aged 15 to 19 are based on 25-49 unweighted cases. Prevalence data for girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an underestimation of the true extent of the practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. Data for girls and women are used to report on person/practitioner performing the procedure and type of FGM since data on daughters are based on less than 25 unweighted cases. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional midwives and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all charts on this page: DHS 2013-14

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by region

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by ethnicity and religion

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers) by residence, mother’s education and household wealth quintile

Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by age at which cutting occurred

Percentage distribution of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, according to the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

Percentage distribution of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone

FGM, by type of FGM performed

10-25 %

26-50 %

51-80 %

Less than 10 %

Above 80 %

Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers),

by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing

2535 24 5

0 20 40 60 80 100

11

Cut, flesh removed

Type not determined/Not sure/Don’t know

Cut, no flesh removed/Nicked

Sewn closed

12

63

15

10

Health personnel

Traditionalpractitioner

Don’t know/Missing

95

0.4

5

0

20

40

60

80

100

5

58

0

22

2 1 1

Total Muslim Traditional/animist

RomanCatholic

Other Christians

Ethnic groupwith highestprevalence

1

Ethnic groupwith lowestprevalence

No religion

0.3 0.3 0.2 1 0.1 0.2 1 0.1 Total Rural Urban No

education Primary

complete Secondary or higher

Poorest Richest 0

10

20

30

40

50

22

1 0

10

20

30

40

50

Daughters whosemothers think FGM

should continue

Daughters whosemothers think FGM

should stop

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

Most people in Togo think the practice should stop

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 yearswho have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue,by household wealth quintile, education, ethnicity and age

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

The practice of FGM has been systematically very low throughout the years

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age

Source for all of the above charts:DHS 2013-14

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage of girls and women aged15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue, by survey year

Boys andmen

Girls and women

Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Don't know/Missing

0 20 40 60 80 100

96

95

2

1

3

4

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard of FGM and

believe the practice is required by religion

75

0

10

20

30

40

50

Girls and women Boys and men

1 2 1 2 1 1 0 2 2

Total Poorest Richest Secondaryor higher

Ethnic groupwith the highest

support

Ethnic groupwith the lowest

support

45-49 years 15-19 years

11

No education Primarycomplete

0

10

20

30

40

50

45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years 0

10

20

30

40

50

4 2 210 9 7 5

MICS 2006 MICS 2010

Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue

0

10

20

30

40

50

DHS 2013-2014

6 42 2 51

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue

TOGO

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Notes: Data on attitudes for Yemen refer to ever-married girls and women. In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Egypt data refer to girls aged 1 to 14 years and Indonesia data refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls aged 0 to 14 years for Gambia (MICS 2010) and Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. Prevalence data on FGM for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Sources: DHS, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.

Updated January 2019

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Research and Policy

UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017Website: data.unicef.org Email: data@unicef.org

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