Percentage of Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence Among Women Age 15 to 49

Over 70 million girls and women aged 15–49 years in Africa and in Yemen have undergone FGM/C. Approximately 60 per cent of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, while 40 per cent live in the Middle East and North Africa. The analyses presented here are based on data for all of the 29 countries (28 in Africa plus Yemen) where FGM/C is equal to or above 1 per cent, according to nationally representative household survey data. FGM/C is believed not to be widely practised in other countries, although it can also be customary among small minorities and immigrants’ communities everywhere. These numbers do not include girls below the age of 15; therefore, the expected total number of women and girls circumcised in the world is likely to be even bigger. More than 90 per cent of women aged 15–49 years have been cut in Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Somalia. Prevalence of FGM/C among women aged 15–49 years varies widely, from 98 per cent in Somalia to 1 per cent in Cameroon, Uganda and Zambia