Stepping up fight against domestic violence likely to pay dividends

Civil wars and conflicts rumble far too long in far too many places like Syria and the Sudans, and they are devastating for those involved. Economists have measured the costs of all such conflict, from the death toll from civil wars, regular wars, terrorism along with the costs of refugees but also including the way conflicts can blight countries' economic growth for decades. Yet, their total impact, though important in specific hot-spots, is globally fairly small, with a total cost of about 0.2% of global GDP.

Domestic violence is a human rights issue, a public health issue and an economic development issue.

In Haiti, evidence from confidential surveys suggests that domestic violence is a serious problem: it appears that around 273,200 women suffer from severe physical and/or sexual violence per year. This adds up to 9.4 percent of the population of 14- to 49-year-old women.

The Australian government's decision to step up its fight against the scourge of domestic violence does not just make moral sense: it is underpinned by a sound economic case too.

Researchers for Copenhagen Consensus recently conducted one of the first analyses of the total costs of violence worldwide, and found that gender-based violence – believed to affect around one in three women globally – has a considerably higher financial impact on society than many would think.