Around 750 million women and girls live within 50 kilometres of an active conflict, 40 million more than in 2024 and the highest number since 1990, the report found.
"War is getting deadlier for women and girls, and the world is allowing it to happen," Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Women's Deputy Executive Director, told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York. "For them, war is not something they can scroll past. War is outside their door."
The threat extends beyond the battlefield. In 2025, the UN verified 9,788 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, more than twice as many as the year before and almost four times as many as in 2022. In Haiti, reported cases rose by 163 per cent. The report also found that a woman giving birth in a conflict-affected country is five times more likely to die from maternal causes than one in a stable country, and that in Gaza the destruction of hospitals and maternity facilities has contributed to a 41 per cent decrease in live births and a 300 per cent increase in miscarriages.
War is also deepening poverty. Around 170 million women and girls live in both conflict zones and extreme poverty, surviving on less than $3 a day, and in conflict-affected countries they spend five times as many hours on unpaid care work as men and boys. The report warns that the growing use of drones and long-range weapons in populated areas, including attacks on schools, markets and hospitals, raises further safety concerns.
Women remain largely excluded from efforts to end the fighting. In 2025, they made up just five per cent of negotiators across 57 peace processes, down from the previous year, and none of 13 ceasefire agreements explicitly prohibited conflict-related sexual violence. Global military spending reached a record $2.9 trillion last year, while 40 per cent of women's organisations in crisis-affected settings expect to close temporarily or permanently within the next year because of funding shortfalls.
"More women and girls are trapped in wars than at any point in decades. Yet military spending keeps rising and development assistance keeps falling," said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.
UN Women is calling for the protection of women and girls, their meaningful participation in peace and security efforts, sustained investment in women-led peacebuilding and an end to impunity. "War is a human choice. So is peace," Ms Gumbonzvanda said.