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  • Population Study Article
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Burdens of interpersonal violence in adolescents and young adults

Pediatric Research (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Interpersonal violence (IV) is a common problem among adolescents and young adults and has long-term consequences for the health and development of youth.

Methods

Data on incidence and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) of IV (physical violence by firearm, by sharp object, sexual violence, and by other means) for adolescents and young adults aged 10–24 years in 204 countries and territories were retrieved from the GBD 2019. The age standardised rate (ASR) and estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) were used to analyze the global trends by sex, and SDI.

Results

Globally, in 2019, the age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) of IV among adolescents and young adults was 566.0 per 100,000 person years. From 1990 to 2019, the IV incidence and the age-standardised DALYs rate of IV among adolescents and young adults decreased globally. At the regional level, the largest increases in ASIR of IV from 1990 to 2019 were observed in Oceania (0.94%), Caribbean (0.81%), and Southern Latin America (0.63%). A reversed V-shaped association was found between the SDI and the burden of IV at the regional level.

Conclusions

Unwavering efforts must be made to prevent IV among adolescents and young adults and care for victims of IV.

Impact

  • Although the burden of IV is decreasing worldwide from 1990 to 2019, the most significant increase was found in Oceania, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

  • High-income North America continues to be affected by physical violence by firearm, while East Asia continues to face issues with sexual violence.

  • Unwavering efforts must be made to prevent IV among adolescents and young adults and care for victims of IV, including clinical and mental health.

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Fig. 1: Burden of interpersonal violence in 2019 and trends in burden from 1990 to 2019, by countries and territories.
Fig. 2: Age-standardised incidence and DALY rates of IV among adolescents and young adults by SDI, 1990–2019.
Fig. 3: Age-standardised incidence and DALY rates of specific IV, and proportions of incident cases and DALYs contributed by each specifc IV, globally and for 21 GBD regions, 2019.

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Data availability

The data used for the analyses in the study are publicly available at https://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (Washington University), the GBD Collaborators and all staff who have contributed in sharing their data needed for this study.

Funding

H.Z. is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China Excellent Young Scientists Fund [82022064], Natural Science Foundation of China International/Regional Research Collaboration Project [72061137001]. All funding parties did not have any role in the design of the study or in the explanation of the data.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Leiwen Fu, Ke Liu, Bingyi Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, Beijing, China

    Leiwen Fu & Ke Liu

  2. Institute for HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention, Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China

    Bingyi Wang

  3. Department of HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention, Guangdong Provincial Academy of Preventive Medicine, Guangzhou, China

    Bingyi Wang

  4. School of Public Health, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China

    Tian Tian

  5. School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China

    Zhen Lu, Weijie Zhang & Junye Bian

  6. School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Huachun Zou

  7. Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Huachun Zou

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  1. Leiwen Fu
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  2. Ke Liu
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Contributions

H.Z. conceived the study and designed the protocol with L.F. L.F., T.T., and W.Z. performed analyses of the Global Burden of Disease data. L.F. and T.T. contributed to statistical analysis and interpretation of data. L.F., K.L., T.T., and H.Z. drafted the manuscript with all authors critically revising the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Huachun Zou.

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Fu, L., Liu, K., Wang, B. et al. Burdens of interpersonal violence in adolescents and young adults. Pediatr Res (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-025-04114-w

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