INTERACTIVE: Custom defies borders

Female genital cutting is performed in line with tradition and social norms and is strongly associated with ethnicity. More than 130 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the practice is concentrated. If current trends continue, as many as 30 million girls are at risk of being cut before their 15th birthday. However, the data also show that the majority of girls and women in most practicing countries think the custom should end. The practice is less prevalent among adolescent girls than among their middle-aged counterparts in most of the 29 countries.