Gender-based violence

The National Statistical Institute

"Health Care and Justice Statistics" Department

Evelin Yordanova

Head of department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 459

The prevalence of the following types of violence is measured: psychological, sexual and physical violence (including threats), stalking, sexual harassment at work, violence in childhood. It provides important information on the relationship with perpetrators - intimate partners (current and former); household members; other persons.

Depending on the nature of the questions, the period covered is different - last 12 months, last 5 years, lifetime or from age 15 to the time of the interview (as an adult). The choice for this observation period was made to obtain the most reliable answers. The period is also essential in correctly referring to the experience by type of violence and by perpetrator, in cases where a woman has been the victim of more than one type of violence by more than one perpetrator.

All presented data are based on the subjective assessment of the respondents and no documents were required to verify the accuracy of the answers.

The indicators calculated refer to unwanted experiences by women after the age of 15, except where a specific age is indicated or in relation to violence in childhood. Indicators for intimate partner violence refer to the entire period of time since the relationship began, regardless of age.

• National Classification of Occupations and Duties - 2011 - consistent with the International Standard Classification of Occupations ISCO-08;
• Classification of Economic Activities (CEA-2008, for international use NACE.BG -2008) - consistent with the European classification NACE Rev. 2;
• International Standard Classification of Education, 2011 revision (ISCED 2011).

Women aged between 18 and 74 years living in private households.

The following types of violence were covered:

• Physical violence - intentional behaviour aimed at causing suffering and inducing fear through the use of direct physical force resulting in bodily pain and/or injury.
• Psychological violence - intentional behaviour that involves seriously impairing a person`s psychological integrity through coercion or threats by an intimate partner. This type of violence includes a range of behaviours involving acts of emotional abuse and controlling behaviour.
• Economic violence - intentional behaviour to control and/or limit a person`s access to financial resources, property, labour market and education by an intimate partner. As well as control and/or limit in decision making related to economic status.
• Sexual violence - intentional behaviour intended to coerce a relationship of a sexual nature by physical force or coercion without the person`s consent. Includes any type of harmful or unwanted sexual conduct, such as rape, attempted rape, forcing another person to engage in acts of a sexual nature with a third person, and other acts (touching without consent, any act the person finds humiliating).
• Domestic violence - includes any act of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence, as well as attempted violence in the family or in the household. It includes family members, intimate partners and persons who live or lived in the same household when the violence occurred.
• Sexual harassment at work - includes any form of unwanted verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature by a person in the work environment resulting in a violation of a person`s dignity, insult or humiliation. For example, inappropriate staring, touching, remarks, jokes or inappropriate suggestions from persons with a professional relationship.
• Violence in childhood - covers the following experiences before the age of 15: psychological or physical violence perpetrated by parents; sexual violence perpetrated by any person; acts of violence between parents. Parents are biological, step or foster parents, other persons responsible for raising and educating, occupying the ‘figure of parents’.

Women aged between 18 and 74 years living in private households.

Women aged between 18 and 74 years living in private households.

In accordance with the methodology, institutionalised households, such as boarding houses, residencies for students or workers, social service institutions, prisons, etc. are excluded from the target population.

The territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The survey is conducted in 2021.

Depending on the nature of the questions, the period covered is different - last 12 months, last 5 years, lifetime or from age 15 to the time of the interview (as an adult). The choice for this observation period was made to obtain the most reliable answers. The period is also essential in correctly referring to the experience by type of violence and by perpetrator, in cases where a woman has been the victim of more than one type of violence by more than one perpetrator.

The indicators calculated refer to unwanted experiences by women after the age of 15, except where a specific age is indicated or in relation to violence in childhood. Indicators for intimate partner violence refer to the entire period of time since the relationship began, regardless of age.

Not applicable.

Relative share.

The survey is conducted between November 2021 and February 2022.

The survey is conducted in the framework of the project ‘Survey on Gender-Based Violence’ in implementation of Grant Agreement with the European Commission № 960467-2019-BG-GBV SURVEY-2.

The survey is carried out according to common and harmonised methodology developed and approved by Eurostat and in strict compliance with the requirements of the national legislations of the countries.

The survey is included in the National Statistical Programme adopted by Council of Ministers Decision 17/11.01.2021, which regulates the deadlines for conducting statistical surveys and the respondents` obligations to provide the data.

• Law on Statistics;
• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Individual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

For the purposes of dissemination of aggregated data the following rules are applied:

• An estimate should not be published if it is based on fewer than 20 sample observations or if the non-response for the item concerned exceeds 50%.
• An estimate should be published with a flag "low reliability" if it is based on 20 to 49 sample observations or if non-response for the item concerned exceeds 20% and is lower or equal to 50%.
• An estimate shall be published in the normal way when based on 50 or more sample observations and the item's non-response does not exceed 20%.

The Release Calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/488

The Release Calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/node/488

Data on Survey on gender-based violence is published on the NSI website, section Justice and Crime in accordance with the Law on Statistics and the European Statistics Code of Practice respecting the professional independence and aimed at objectivity, transparency and equal treatment of all consumers.

Data is disseminated after finalization of data validation by Eurostat.

Press release

Not applicable.

Data are available to all users of the NSI website under the section Justice and Crime.

Eurostat online database.

Anonymised individual data can be provide for scientific and research purposes, and for individual request according to the Rules for the provision of anonymised individual data for scientific and research purposes.

Information service on request, according to the Rules for the dissemination of statistical products and services in NSI.

Methodological manual for the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV), Eurostat, 2021 edition.

Metadata and quality report.

NSI has implemented an Integrated Quality and Information Security Management System in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2017. The certificate fully meets all international requirements and guarantees the quality of processes and information security of the entire statistical and information infrastructure of the NSI at both national and regional level.

Survey on gender-based violence aims at achieving an input harmonisation. A model questionnaire (questions, answer categories, filters, etc.) as well as conceptual guidelines and rationales were prepared. Conceptual translation into all EU languages was requested. By using the Methodological manual for the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV), Eurostat, 2021 edition, the harmonized questionnaire, a standard translation protocol as well as conceptual translation cards and guidelines were applied.

The recommendations regarding the questionnaire are accompanied by guidance regarding the methods of data collection and processing.

The developed and used data entry tool is elaborated according to the Validation rules and Data delivery guidelines proposed by Eurostat.

Data validation tool is used in order to prevalidate the national microdata before sending them to Eurostat.

NSI has implemented an Integrated Quality and Information Security Management System in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2017. The certificate fully meets all international requirements and guarantees the quality of processes and information security of the entire statistical and information infrastructure of the NSI at both national and regional level.

Society and researchers are interested in knowing the true nature of violence, where and when it happens, how often, who the perpetrators are. Important are the characteristics of the victims of violence, directly or indirectly, and what the short and long-term consequences are for individuals and for society as a whole.

The information gathered can significantly complement that from existing administrative sources - such as police, judicial or prosecution statistics.

Not applicable.

Women aged between 18 and 74 years living in private households. In accordance with the survey methodology, institutionalised households, such as boarding houses, residencies for students or workers, social service institutions, prisons, etc. are excluded from the target population.

The statistical accuracy of the obtained sample results is assessed by the estimated standard errors, which are biased by the estimates obtained from the sample size, the average number of respondents in a strata and the size of the target population. These errors are used to determine the deviation of the parameters obtained from the sample from the same parameters of the target population.

A nationally representative sample of 8 240 private households with at least one woman aged 18 - 74 was drawn. In accordance with the methodology, institutionalised households, such as boarding houses, residencies for students or workers, social service institutions, prisons, etc. were excluded from the target population. The survey was conducted on the principle of voluntary participation and consent. Only one woman per household in the respective age group was interviewed. A total of 5 580 women were successfully interviewed and the response rate was 77.4%.

A three stage stratified cluster sample on national and regional level was used. The sample was stratified by using the administrative regions in the country and persons` place of residence (town, village). As a result of the stratification 56 strata were designed. At the first stage the census enumeration units (PSU) were selected. At the second stage, the private households with women aged 18 - 74 were identified. In the third stage - one woman aged between 18 and 74 years was identified per household.

In order to provide maximum opportunities for analysing the data additional information is available:

• Original sample size (Eligible + Not eligible);
• Interviewed respondents - fully or partially completed questionnaire;
• Non-interviewed respondents - respondent was not found, refusal;
• Not eligible - deceased, does not live at the address, non-existent address/building/dwelling.

Т + 9 months

Data is disseminated after finalization of data validation by Eurostat.

Micro-data are provided to Eurostat according to the European legislation.

Data are disseminated according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the NSI.

Due to sample type of the survey, the data are representative at district level only for part of indicators.

International comparison – aim is achieving an input standardisation (questions, answers, filters, etc.) through conceptual translation into all EU languages. Each of the questions and response categories are accompanied by a detailed description, so that their meaning is identical in all Member States.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The Census 2011 Database is used. The sampling frame is updated annually based on current demographic statistics. In sampling design for the survey, data from 2020 were used.

A three stage stratified cluster sample on national and regional level was used. The sample was stratified by using the administrative regions in the country and persons` place of residence (town, village). As a result of the stratification 56 strata were designed. At the first stage the census enumeration units (PSU) were selected. At the second stage, the private households with women aged 18 - 74 were identified. In the third stage - one woman aged between 18 and 74 years was identified per household.

One time.

Modes of data collection were combined - personal interview with electronic devices (CAPI) or web-based application for respondents` self-interviewing (CAWI).

The data are validated by Eurostat. Common rules for checking and consistency checks are applied.

Data checking, cleaning and editing is done in accordance with the Methodological manual, Validation rules as well as Data delivery guidelines. Imputation is not applied. Calibration is applied.

The current demographic data for the total population is used for weighting.