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India is the most dangerous country in the world for women, survey shows

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India is officially the most dangerous country for women to live in according to a survey done by the Thomson Reuters foundation.

The survey was taken by 550 experts on women’s issues and India came first due to various issues including sexual violence against women, human trafficking, forced labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery.

READ MORE: These are the safest countries worldwide for women to live in

Just seven years ago, India was the fourth most dangerous country for women, but due to the previously mentioned issues and other cultural traditions that impact women like acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage and physical abuse, they have moved up the list to the prime spot. 

The only western country to make it into the top 10? The United States of America, which the foundation said was directly linked to the #MeToo movement. 

The countries as ranked by the survey are: 

1 – India
2 - Afghanistan
3 – Syria
4 – Somalia
5 – Saudi Arabia
6 – Pakistan
7 – Democratic Republic of Congo
8 – Yemen
9 – Nigeria
10 - USA

According to CNN, the report comes amid mounting public outrage about sexual violence in the country. A series of high profile rape cases have pushed it back into the national spotlight. 

READ MORE: 'I'd like a female driver please' - would this improve our safety when we use Uber/Taxify?

In April, thousands of protestors took to the streets to demand better protection for women and stricter laws have been introduced for sexual assault, rape and abuse. Seeing the protests is encouraging, but despite this, around 100 sexual assaults are reported to police in India daily and nearly 39 000 alleged attacks were reported in 2016 alone, which was a 12% increase from 2015.  

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