Karnataka spousal violence rate drops from 44 percent to 14 percent

In Bengaluru, Karnataka has recorded the sharpest decline in spousal violence across India, with the rate of ever-married women reporting abuse dropping from 44.4% to 14.1%. According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) fact-sheet, which compared data from the 2019-21 period to 2023-24, the state achieved a decline of over 30 percentage points.

This dramatic decrease dwarfs the progress of every other Indian state. Nationally, India’s overall spousal violence rate fell from 29.2% to 22.3% during the same timeframe.

Karnataka’s new status as the leader in reducing domestic abuse stands in stark contrast to its position in the previous survey. In the NFHS-5 cycle, Karnataka was the worst-performing state in the entire country regarding spousal violence.

During that previous cycle, Karnataka's high rates were followed by Bihar and Chhattisgarh, which both stood at 40.1%. Tamil Nadu recorded 38.1%, while Telangana stood at 37.2%.

With the release of the NFHS-6 data, Karnataka has transitioned to the middle of the national distribution. The state's current rate of 14.1% is now comfortably below several other states that remain at the top of the list for high reported rates. These include Bihar at 36.1%, Telangana at 30.8%, and Tamil Nadu at 28.5%.

Assam emerged as the second-biggest mover in the country, reducing its spousal violence rate from 32.2% to 16.2%. While Assam achieved a notable 16-percentage-point drop, Karnataka’s decline was nearly double that figure.

A 30-point decline in a single survey cycle is highly unusual for this type of data. The scale of the improvement has led to comparisons of the survey questionnaires to determine if changes in the questions could have elicited different answers from respondents.