Genital Mutilation of Children

  Number of genitally mutilated individuals now living (worldwide)

  Percentage of each gender who is mutilated

  Selected national averages among western English-speaking nations:

Britain

Australia

Canada

United States

Number of infants circumcised annually

Number of infants circumcised daily

Rate (for reference only)

Estimated Annual Cost

Estimated Number Performed: 1940 to 1990

Complication Rate **

Estimate Number of U.S. Complications ***

Male

650 million

23%

-

< 0.5%

10%

25%

60% *

1.25 million

3,300

1 every 26 secs.

$200 million

66 million

2% - 10%

1.3-6.6 million

Female

100 million

5%

-

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

N.A.

Click here for a detailed estimate of U.S. male circumcision complications

Click here for an estimate of worldwide male circumcision complications

NOTES:

*        In many U.S. hospitals, the rate exceeds 95%

**      The exact rate depends on diagnostic criteria. In truth, the complication rate from circumcision is 100% because, shorn of its normal, functioning foreskin, the circumcised penis is necessarily denuded, desensitized, and deprived of the physiological functions of the foreskin, regardless of other "complications" that may accompany the amputation.

***   Physical complications only. Does not include adverse sexual or psychological effects manifesting later in life.

N.A. Not Available. Female circumcision in the U.S. was viewed and performed as "medically valid" as late as the 1950s. It is still done today by some immigrants for cultural reasons with help from doctors.

Female circumcision figure (100 million, average) from Nahid Toubia, M.D., Female Genital Mutilation and the Responsibility of Reproductive Health Professionals, International Journal Gynecology & Obstetrics, 46, pp. 127-135, 1994.

Male circumcision figure (650 million, approximate) based on NOHARMM table Estimated Worldwide Incidence of Male Circumcision Complications.

British male circumcision figures from Wallerstein. Canadian and Australian male circumcision figures from Circumcision Information Resource Center/Montreal and NOCIRC/Australia respectively.

U.S. male circumcision figures from National Center for Health Statistics, 1993.

Annual U.S. cost from Nasrallah, P.F., Circumcision: Pros and Cons. Primary Care, vol. 12, pp. 593-605, 1985.

Number of surgeries estimated with birth data and estimates of circumcision rate by National Center for Health Statistics and by Wallerstein. Read Estimated U.S. Incidence of Neonatal Circumcision Complications.

Estimated complication rate from Williams and Kapila, Complications of Circumcision. British Journal of Surgery, vol. 80, pp. 1231-1236, October 1993.

 

Child Victims of Genital Mutilation:
Rates and Ratios

Universal Statistics

Annually

Monthly

Daily

Hourly

Per Minute

1 Child Per

15 million

1.25 million

41,666

1,736

29

2.07 seconds

Statistics by Gender

Boys

Girls

13 million

2 million

1.1 million

166,666

35,616

5,480

1,484

228

24.7

3.8

2.4 sec.

16 sec.

NOTE:

Since no records are kept of the number of male and female genital mutilations in the world, the above estimates are derived from calculating a ratio of 6.5 male circumcisions for every one female circumcision, where the number of circumcised females in the world is averaged at 100 million (estimated between 85 and 114 million - from Nahid Toubia, M.D., Female Genital Mutilation and the Responsibility of Reproductive Health Professionals, International Journal Gynecology & Obstetrics, 46, pp. 127-135, 1994) and the number of circumcised males in the world is conservatively estimated to be approximately 650 million (see NOHARMM table: Incidence of Worldwide Male Circumcision Complications). Estimated number of females circumcised annually (2 million, see Toubia) is the basis for NOHARMM’s calculation of the estimated number of males circumcised annually (13 million).

 

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