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UNICEF · Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence
Female genital mutilation by country
What share of women have undergone female genital mutilation?
Of the 27 countries compared in the 2024 edition, Uganda had the lowest reading, 0.3%, and Somalia had the highest reading, 99.2%. In the middle country the figure was 36.7%. 4 readings from before 2014 are listed but not compared.
Female genital mutilation · the 2024 edition
Context statistic
Lowest of 27Uganda
0.3%01the 2024 edition · values only
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 27 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
2Photo: Erik Cleves Kristensen derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
3Photo: Ferdinand Reus from Arnhem, Holland derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
Lowest on each continent
- AfricaUganda0.3%
- Asia
Iraq7.4%3 of 52 measured
- Every region
02Every measured country
Female genital mutilation on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 86.6–99.2%
- 52.1–83.0%
- 21.6–50.8%
- 9.2–20.1%
- 0.3–8.2%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2014, listed but not compared (4)
- No reading in the 2024 edition
- Africa
44.4%
the middle country, of 24 measured · 55 members
Uganda0.3%
Somalia99.2%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Asia
3 of 52 measured — too few for a middle: Indonesia, Iraq, Maldives.
Iraq7.4%
Indonesia50.8%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Every region
7 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Eastern Africa
40.0%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 19 members
Uganda0.3%Somalia99.2%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
44.4%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 16 members
Ghana2.4%
Guinea94.5%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Central African Republic, Chad.
Central African Republic21.6%
Chad34.1%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
2 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt, Sudan.
Sudan86.6%
Egypt87.2%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- South-eastern Asia
1 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Indonesia.
Indonesia50.8%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
1 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Maldives.
Maldives12.9%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Asia
1 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Iraq.
Iraq7.4%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
27 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 36.7%; a quarter are above 77.8%, and a quarter below 13.4%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 31 ever measured
Every country
In order, lowest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. This is not a world ranking and no position is shown. Only 31 countries appear, because FGM is measured where it is practised — a country's absence means the practice is not established there, not that it failed to report. The figures also lag reality by a generation: they record what happened to women who are now adults, and the rate among girls today is falling faster.
Showing 25 of 31 countries
Values for the 2024 edition.
05In this edition
Female genital mutilation in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
99.2%
Women aged 15-49 who have undergone FGM (%)
Lowest reading
0.3%
Women aged 15-49 who have undergone FGM (%)
06The measure
About female genital mutilation
This is the share of women aged 15 to 49 who have undergone female genital mutilation, in the countries where the practice is established enough to be surveyed.
What the number is: Women aged 15-49 who have undergone FGM (%).
07Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Health & Wellbeing and Gender & Equality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Health & WellbeingGender & EqualityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where female genital mutilation is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where female genital mutilation is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 0 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
09Questions
Female genital mutilation: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest female genital mutilation?
Uganda, at 0.3%, among the 27 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
Which country has the highest female genital mutilation?
Somalia, at 99.2%, among the 27 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
How many countries does the Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence cover?
27 in the 2024 edition, and 31 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average female genital mutilation?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 27 compared in the 2024 edition, the figure was 36.7%.
Is this UNICEF’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNICEF publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2024.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNICEF, under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse (PT_F_15-49_FGM), one reading per country from its most recent survey. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence — UNICEF
Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse (PT_F_15-49_FGM), one reading per country from its most recent survey.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNICEF. UNICEF Data Warehouse. New York: UNICEF.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-09-10.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNICEF publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2014 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Female genital mutilation by country: Female Genital Mutilation Prevalence, data from UNICEF. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/fgm-prevalence