SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS

18% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 15

37% of women 20-24 years were married orin union before age 18

22% of women 20-24 years have given birthby age 18

27%of women aged 15-49 years old thinkthat a husband/partner is justified inhitting/beating his wife under certaincircumstances

59%of women 15-49 years make use at leastone type of information media at leastonce a week (newspaper, magazine,television or radio)

Source: MICS 2015

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 While the exact number of girls and women worldwide who have undergone FGM remains unknown, at least 200 million girls and women have been cut in 31 countries with representative data on prevalence. FGM is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights and is condemned by many international treaties and conventions, as well as by national legislation in many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM is performed in line with tradition and social norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted and marriageable, and to uphold their status and honour and that of the entire family. UNICEF works with government and civil society partners towards the elimination of FGM in countries where it is still practised.

1. World Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4.

STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

MAURITANIA

© UNICEF/UN0206437/Tamayo

2005 National decree/legislation banningFGM passed

Data and Analytics SectionDIVISION OF DATA, ANALYTICS, PLANNING AND MONITORING

WHEN AND HOW IS FGM PERFORMED?

HOW WIDESPREAD IS THE PRACTICE?

Nearly 70 per cent of girls and women in Mauritania have undergone FGM with those living in rural areas and from poorer households more likely to experience the practice

Two in three girls experienced the practice between ages 5 and 14

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 yearswho have undergone FGM, by region

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by residence and household wealth quintile

Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations zused on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. There is no ethnicity or religion data for Mauritania. Prevalence data for girls aged 0 to 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM status since some girls who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an underestimation of the true extent of the practice. Since age at cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM prevalence data for this age group. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all charts on this page: MICS 2015

Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone FGM, by age at which cutting occurred

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who haveundergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), according to

the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure

Percentage distribution of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their

mothers), by type of FGM performed

Almost eight out of ten adolescent girls who underwent the practice were cut before the age of 5; most of the remaining girls are unsure at what age they were cut

10% - 25%

26% - 50%

51% - 80%

Less than 10%

Above 80%

67 79

5537

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Rural Urban Poorest Richest

92

77

0 20 40 60 80 100

22

0.4 0.20-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years

15+ years

Don’t know/Missing

Cut, flesh removed

Cut, no flesh removed/Nicked

Type not determined/ Not sure/Don’t know

Sewn closed

1

20

75

4

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers), by residence, mother’s education and wealth quintile

Among daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers),

by mothers’ attitudes about whether the practice should continue

51

66

33

61

47

18

63

82

13

0

20

40

60

80

100

Primary Secondary or higher

Koranic/non-standard

curriculum

Daughters whose mothers think

FGM should continue

Daughters whose mothers say it

depends/are not sure

Daughters whosemothers think

FGM should stop

0

20

40

60

80

100 90

63

40

1

97

2

Traditionalpractitioner

Health personnel

Other/Don't know/Missing

WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM?

More than one in three girls and women think FGM should continue in Mauritania

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM CHANGING?

There are signs of a small decline in the prevalence of FGM over time

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, by current age

Notes: There are no ethnicity data for Mauritania. Data on women’s attitudes cannot be directly compared with men’s attitudes since the data source for girls and women is more recent than that for boys and men.

Source for all above charts: MICS 2015, unless otherwise noted.

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM, and percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and boys and men aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue

Among girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM, the percentage who cite specific benefits or

advantages for a girl to undergo the procedure

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM and think the practice should continue,by household wealth quintile, education, residence and age

Source: MICS 2015 for girls and women and DHS 2000-01 for boys and men

19 12

0 20 40 60 80 100

Think FGM should continue Think FGM should stop Say it depends/are not sure

69Boysand men

Girls andwomen 50 1436

36

62

13

42 38

20

48 49

24

39 36

0

20

40

60

80

100

Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondary or higher

Koranic/non-standard curriculum

Rural Urban 45-49 years 15-19 years

73 72 69 66 68 64 63

0

20

40

60

80

100

45-49 years 40-44 years 35-39 years 30-34 years 25-29 years 20-24 years 15-19 years

72 69

5341

MICS 2007 MICS 2011

Prevalence of FGM

Think FGMshould continue

0

20

40

60

80

100

DHS 2000-01

7164

67

36

MICS 2015

Source: DHS 2000-01

No benefits

More sexual pleasure for the man

Cleanliness/Hygiene

Social acceptance

Better marriage prospects

Preservation of virginity

Required by religionOther

Don’t know

21

19

35

4

31

2

29

9

N/A

MAURITANIA

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM (as reported by their mothers)

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 who have heard of FGM and think the practice should continue

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Notes: In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the Sande society were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM since it is performed during initiation into the society. Data on girls’ prevalence in Egypt refer to girls aged 6 months to 14 years and in Indonesia refer to girls aged 0 to 11 years. An older source is used to report on the prevalence of FGM among girls and on the percentage of support for FGM in Uganda (DHS 2011) since the latest source did not collect these data. Data on the prevalence among girls refer to an older source in Nigeria (MICS 2016-17) due to an anomaly in the results in the most recent source. MICS data for Ghana (2011) could not be used to report on attitudes towards FGM due to the fact that information is missing for girls and women with no living daughters; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. EDSF/PAPFAM data for Djibouti (2012) could not be used for attitudes towards FGM since the question is different from the standard; data from MICS 2006 are used instead. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM; since girls and women from practicing communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by DHS 2013 is higher than would be expected had all girls and women been asked their opinion. In Egypt and Somalia, the support for FGM was calculated among all girls and women, since respondents were not first asked whether they had heard of the practice. Prevalence data for girls and women aged 15 to 49 years and data on attitudes towards FGM are not available for Indonesia.

Source: DHS, EDSF/PAPFAM, MICS, Health Issues Survey, Population and Health Survey and RISKESDAS, 2004-2018.Updated January 2020

FOR MORE INFORMATIONData and Analytics Section - Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017Website: data.unicef.org Email: data@unicef.org

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