The economic dimensions of interpersonal violence - libdoc.who.int ...

SummaryInterpersonal violence is expensive. For instance, estimates of the cost ofviolence in the United States of America reach 3.3% of the gross domesticproduct. In England and Wales, the total costs from violence - includinghomicide, wounding and sexual assault - amount to an estimated $40.2 billionannually 1 .Interpersonal violence is defined to include violence between family membersand intimate partners and violence between acquaintances and strangers that isnot intended to further the aims of any formally defined group or cause. Selfdirectedviolence, war, state-sponsored violence and other collective violence arespecifically excluded from these definitions.This report, based on an extensive review of peer reviewed articles andpublished and unpublished reports, treats the following themes:The economic effects of interpersonal violence in a variety ofsocioeconomic and cultural settings.The economic effects of interventions intended to reduce interpersonalviolence.The effects of economic conditions and policies on interpersonalviolence - with particular reference to poverty, structural adjustment,income equality and social investment.Interpersonal violence disproportionately affects low- and middle-incomecountries. The economic effects are also likely to be more severe in poorercountries. However, as this report shows, there is a scarcity of studies of theeconomic effects of this violence in low- and middle-income countries.Comparisons with high-income countries are complicated by the fact thateconomic losses related to productivity tend to be undervalued in low-incomecountries since these losses are typically based on foregone wages and income.For example, a single homicide is calculated to cost, on average, $15 319 inSouth Africa, $602 000 in Australia, $829 000 in New Zealand, and more than$2 million in the USA.Many of the studies detailing the costs of violence are from the USA where childabuse results in $94 billion in annual costs to the economy - 1.0% of the grossdomestic product. Direct medical treatment costs per abused child have beencalculated by different studies to range from $13 781 to $42 518. Intimatepartner violence costs the USA economy $12.6 billion on an annual basis - 0.1%of the gross domestic product - compared to 1.6% of the gross domestic productin Nicaragua and 2.0% of the gross domestic product in Chile. Gun violence -which includes suicides - has alone been calculated at $155 billion annually in1Throughout this document, to enable comparisons and to adjust for inflation and varying exchange rates,monetary values have been converted to 2001 US dollars. This was done by converting other currencyamounts to US dollars using the exchange rate at the mid-point of the year of the estimate, then convertingthe resulting US dollar estimate to 2001 US dollars using the official US consumer price index. Theexchange rates used are those from international markets, and are not adjusted for purchasing power parityx