Violence

Violence is when someone attacks someone else, often to get them to do something they do not want to do by making them feel pain. Violence can mean anything from one person hitting another to a war between many countries that causes millions of deaths. Different people may see different acts as violent. Laws are created often to control violence.

Estimates of disability-adjusted life years from physical violence, per 100,000 inhabitants in 2002.

  No data

  <200

  200–400

  400–600

  600–800

  800–1000

  1000–1200

  1200–1400

  1400–1600

  1600–1800

  1800–2000

  2000–3000

  >3000

Types of violence

Violence can be:

• physical: fighting, killing, or hurting another;
• sexual: when a person makes someone else subject to sexual actions they do not want; e.g. rape
• racial: when a victim of a violent act is chosen because of his or her race or nationality.

Related pages

• Combat
• Nonviolence