[(Domestic) violence against women: socioeconomic consequences and societal costs. Introduction and overview]

Due to prevalence as well as serious health and social impacts, domestic violence against women is considered a problem of high relevance for victims themselves and for the society as a whole. Empirical data also prove this correlation for Germany. Nevertheless the extensive implications and their interdependency have hardly been examined. In this article, a definition of domestic violence is given followed by a brief introduction of the problem. Next an overview of the results from national and international surveys regarding the social consequences and the economic costs of domestic violence is presented. The burden for following generations becomes obvious, including the consequences for family and social relationship structures, for victims' occupational situations, productivity loss, high risk for poverty, homelessness and the interdependencies on health status. Estimations from international studies on the societal costs illustrate the economic dimension.