SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

5% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

31% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18

22% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

58%of women 15-49 years think that ahusband/partner is justified in hittingor beating his wife/partner undercertain circumstances

54%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 2015-16

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 31 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 that of 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

National decree/legislation banning FGM passed1998

UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1831/Noorani

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

In Tanzania, the prevalence of FGM varies significantly by region

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

Six in ten adolescent girls who underwent FGM were cut after age 10

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. There is no ethnicity or religion data for Tanzania. 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 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. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all chatrts on this page: DHS 2015-16

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

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by residence and household wealth quintile

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 aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), according to the type of person/

practitioner performing the procedure

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

mothers), 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

10 135

19

4 0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Rural Urban Poorest Richest

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing

1624 46 14

0 20 40 60 80 100

0

91

Daughters whosemothers think FGM

should continue

Daughters whosemothers think

FGM should stop

0

20

40

60

80

100

0.4 0.4 0.1 1 0.3 0.1 1 0.1

education Primary Secondary

or higher Poorest Richest

0

10

20

30

40

50

97

3

Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel Sewn closed

All othertypes

97

3

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

Most couples in Tanzania agree that FGM should stop

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who 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, residence and age

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There is evidence of significant generational change in the prevalence of FGM in Tanzania as women aged 45 to 49 are almost four times more likely to have been cut than girls aged 15 to 19

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

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

Source: DHS 2015-16 for girls and women and DHS 2004-05 for boys and men

Among cohabiting couples, percentage of girls and women aged15 to 49 years and percentage of boys and men aged 15 to 49

years who have heard about FGM, according to their agreement/disagreement on whether FGM should continue or be discontinued

Source: DHS 2004-2005

Both want FGM/C to continue

Both want FGM/C to stop

Both are undecided

1

81

0

Discordant 18

3 8

1

8

2 1 4

1 3 3 0

10

20

30

40

50

Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondary or higher

Rural Urban 15-19 years 45-49 years

1915 13 13

8 7 5

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

Notes: N/A = not available. There are no ethnicity data for Tanzania. Data on women’s attitudes cannot be directly compared with men’s attitudes since the data source for girls and women is more recent than that for boys and men. Data on attitudes towards FGM were not collected in the DHS 1996.

Source for all of the above charts: DHS 2015-16, unless otherwise noted.

18 15N/A

5

0

20

40

60

80

100

DHS 1996 DHS 2004-05

Prevalence of FGM Think FGM should continue

DHS 2010

156

DHS 2015-16

10 3

0 20 40 60 80 100

Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure

953 2Girls andwomen

Boys andmen

899 3

UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

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 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Notes: 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. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. 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. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; 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. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.Updated January 2020

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

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

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