A preliminary report presented today at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP) reveals grim statistics regarding the murder of 24 women in Portugal over the past year. The report, compiled from media data, indicates that 16 of these murders occurred in intimate relationships, five within a family context, with the remaining three cases resulting from an isolated argument, another domestic setting, and a different context.
The document further details 50 attempted murders, 40 of which were femicides (38 in intimate relationships and two within a family setting) and 10 attempted homicides (four within families, four due to isolated disputes, one in another context, and one unspecified).
“The 2025 data shows that femicides and attempted femicides continue unabated in Portugal,” stated OMA researcher Cátia Pontedeira during a press conference. She condemned the ongoing attacks on women due to their gender, often stemming from prior violence, oppression, and control.
She emphasized the pervasive insecurity women face in 2025, stressing that they are not safe in public spaces, parking lots, workplaces, hospitals, shared homes with intimate partners, or even their personal residences.
“In 2025, in all circumstances of femicides and attempted femicides, the attackers are men. It is impossible to identify a singular profile,” Pontedeira noted, highlighting that victims range from children and young women to older women, while offenders can be young, adult, or elderly men.
Pontedeira also criticized the justice system, noting that offenders are often released with non-custodial measures, lacking preventive detention.
