Worldwide, domestic violence still occurs with staggering frequency, according to a World Health Organization study which was published in a British medical journal.

Interviews of 25,000 women at 15 sites in 10 countries revealed that 50% to 75% of women at six of the sites had been victims of moderate to severe domestic violence.

At 13 of the 15 sites, more than 25% of the women had been victims of domestic violence in the past year.

Overall, women faced greater danger of violence from intimate partners than from strangers.

One-fifth to two-thirds of study subjects reported that they had never spoken of the abuse they had suffered before the study.

At all of the sites, controlling behavior (tracking a partner’s activities and associates) was linked to abusive behavior.

This first global study of domestic violence is considered an important step in combatting it on a worldwide scale.

Read more in this International Herald Tribune article: Study exposes extent of abuse of women.