Canada remains more safe for women than the U.S. despite rising domestic violence

The U.S. and Canada flags flutter next to the Blue Water Bridge border crossing in Point Edward, Ontario, on October 24, 2025. Photo by GEOFF ROBINS /AFP via Getty Images

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Canada has once again ranked higher than the U.S. in a global report on women’s safety.

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The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index, which is produced by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo and supported by the Government of Norway, ranks 181 countries on women’s well-being.

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The ranking is based on 13 indicators spanning women’s inclusion, justice, and security, and generates scores from 0 (worst) to 1 (best).

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In the 2025/26 WPS Index, Canada ranks 16th, up from 17th in 2023/24, with a score of 0.885.

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Canada stands out for women’s financial inclusion and the absence of legal discrimination against women, ranking first in the developed-country group on the latter measure.

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However, Canada ranks lowest in its group for women’s cellphone use, measured as the percentage of women aged 15 and older who report having a mobile phone for personal calls.

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The report notes that “cellphone use is increasingly recognized as core to people’s opportunities to be informed about and participate in the economy, society, and politics.”

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The United States has also improved its standing since the 2023/24 index, rising six places from 37th to 31st.

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It ranks higher than Canada for women’s mean years of schooling, women’s cellphone use and access to justice, but falls behind on indicators including women’s employment, financial inclusion and maternal mortality — the latter of which it ranks worst for among developed countries group.

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The U.S. also ranks worse than Canada on intimate partner violence, measured as the percentage of ever-partnered women who experienced physical or sexual violence committed by an intimate partner in the 12 months prior to data collection.

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The percentage of women who have experienced intimate partner violence is lower in Canada than in the U.S. Photo by kieferpix /Getty Images

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The rate in the U.S. is 6 per cent, compared to Canada’s 2.6 per cent.

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This is despite recent data pointing to rising domestic violence in Canada.

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Data from Statistics Canada, released in October 2025, showed police-reported domestic violence remained at record levels in 2024, unchanged from 2023 after years of gradual increases.

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The rate of intimate partner violence among victims aged 12 and older rose 14 percent between 2018 and 2024.

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Among the provinces, Saskatchewan recorded the highest rates of both family violence (737 victims per 100,000 people) and intimate partner violence (714 victims per 100,000 people).

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Rates were lowest in Ontario, with 237 victims of family violence and 278 victims of intimate partner violence per 100,000 population.

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Women and girls remained overrepresented among victims of both types of police-reported violence, and were 2.1 times more likely to be victims of family violence and 3.5 times more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence than men.

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In recent years, provinces and municipalities across Canada have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic.