Portugal Counts 24 Femicides in 2025, Reviving Fears for Women’s Safety

A few weeks before the year ends, Portugal is confronting a statistic that refuses to move in the right direction. The Observatório de Mulheres Assassinadas (OMA) reports that 24 women have been killed since January, 21 femicides that unfolded despite louder public debate and tougher laws. Investigators have also logged 50 attempted killings, underscoring how gender-based violence continues to outpace the preventive measures anchored in the Istanbul Convention and in national legislation.

Violence that refuses to subside

The running tally of lethal attacks on women has not dipped below the levels that shocked the country in the 2019 spike, leaving activists to conclude that Portugal's domestic homicide rate is stabilising at an unacceptable plateau. Halfway through November the figures already eclipse the total for the whole of 2024, a year that itself generated public outrage. This year’s victims range from teenagers to pensioners, illustrating that danger follows no single demographic profile.

Understanding the Numbers

Delving into police files reveals recurring patterns. The majority of killings—16 cases—occurred between intimate partners, while another five were traced to a familial setting such as brothers or sons turning on female relatives. The average victim age 36 belies extremes that include two girls under 12 and a woman of 82. Histories of abuse cast a long shadow: in 57 % of the incidents previous complaints had been filed, and in eight, the couple shared children in common. In several of those households the woman was in the separation phase, a moment widely recognised as high-risk. Contrary to stereotypes, fatalities were recorded both in rural municipalities and in Portugal’s largest urban centres.

Where the danger hides

The crime scenes mapped by investigators underscore an unsettling truth: women are killed in places they assumed were safe. Homes remain the most common location, yet murders also occurred on streets, inside hospitals and at workplaces. Even when courts impose restraining orders or mandate electronic monitoring, enforcement can falter because of early warning failures. Front-line activists argue that the country’s victim support hotlines receive more calls than they can process, leading to dangerous delays.

Government’s toolbox and its limits

Lisbon has earmarked a record €25 M state budget for 2025 to fight violence against women. The flagship PAVMVD 2023-2026 plan extends tele-assistance to thousands of survivors and introduces primary prevention in schools. New rules promise more emergency shelters and fold abused women into the Porta 65+ housing scheme, while an "animals welcome policy" lets victims flee without abandoning pets. A dedicated unit inside the Ministry of Justice is drafting regulations to combat digital harassment, acknowledging that threats migrate online as soon as physical access is blocked. Even so, auditors warn that resources are spread thin across 308 municipalities.

Justice under scrutiny

Magistrates concede that the legal arsenal is still reactive rather than preventive. Many suspects walk free under preventive detention loopholes, since Portugal prosecutes femicide under the broader category of qualified homicide. Court backlogs delay trials for months, eroding the credibility of risk assessment forms filled out by police. Although mandatory abuser programs exist, compliance rates remain low. A 2025 brief shared with Europol data shows Portugal sentencing fewer domestic killers than several EU peers. Families also point to the limited reach of victim impact statements and to persistent witness protection gaps that discourage testimony.

Culture, attitudes and the road ahead

Experts frequently cite toxic masculinity and misogyny online as cultural drivers that taxes and legal tweaks alone cannot dislodge. Under-reporting remains a structural obstacle; a Eurobarometer 2024 survey found that 1 in 7 Portuguese adults still blames victims who were drunk or dressed in what respondents deemed provocative clothing. Civil-society groups hope the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign will push the conversation into classrooms, because youth education is seen as the most reliable inoculation against violence. Police commanders are piloting community policing models that treat every domestic-abuse call as a potential homicide in the making. Whether these layered efforts coalesce into a long-term strategy strong enough to bend the curve in 2026 is the question haunting those tracking every grim update.