Canada’s Women Face Most Violence in North

The rate of violent crimes committed against women in Canada’s three northern territories was far higher than the national average in 2011, according to a report by the country’s statistics agency.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows violent crimes committed against women and reported to police occurred 12.8 times more often in Nunavut than the national average, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The Northwest Territories’ rate is about nine times the average while Yukon’s is almost quadruple, according to the report.

“As with violent crime overall, the territories have consistently recorded the highest rates of police-reported violence against women in the country,” Maire Sinha, the report’s editor, said.

Demographics are probably a factor, according to the report. The three territories, home to about 113,000 of Canada’s 34.9 million people, have a population that’s significantly younger and more likely to be single, identify as aboriginal, and have less than a high school education than the rest of Canada. Women in all of those groups are more likely to be victims of violent crime, the data show.

Violence against women, which remains a “significant barrier” to equality, may also affect the country by lowering output and productivity for employers and increasing the costs of health care and correctional services, the report said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilan Kolet in Ottawa at ikolet@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net