World's most dangerous countries for women

In its global perceptions survey, Thomson Reuters Foundation's legal news service, TrustLaw, asked 213 gender experts from five continents to rank countries by overall perceptions of danger as well as by six risks: health threats, sexual violence, non-sexual violence, cultural or religious factors, lack of access to resources and trafficking. Here are the results: (all images for illustrative purposes only)

1. Afghanistan: Beleaguered by insurgency, corruption and dire poverty, Afghanistan ranked as most dangerous to women overall and came out worst in three of the poll's key risk categories: health, non-sexual violence and economic discrimination

2. Congo: Still reeling from a 1998-2003 war and accompanying humanitarian disaster that killed 5.4 million, Democratic Republic of Congo ranked second due mainly to staggering levels of sexual violence

3. Pakistan: Those polled cited cultural, tribal and religious practices harmful to women, including acid attacks, child and forced marriage and punishment or retribution by stoning or other physical abuse

4. India: Female foeticide, child marriage and high levels of trafficking and domestic servitude make the world's largest democracy the fourth most dangerous place for women, the poll showed * Up to 50 milliongirls are "missing" over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide. * 44.5% of girls are married before the age of 18.

5. Somalia: One of the poorest, most violent and lawless countries, Somalia ranked fifth due to a catalogue of dangers including high maternal mortality, rape, female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage * 95% of women face FGM, mostly between the ages of 4 and 11. * Only 9% of women give birth at a health facility * Only 7.5% of parliament seats are held by women.

Some more facts:

Economic/Discrimination: Afghanistan - Some 87% of women are illiterate. 70-80% of girls and women face forced marriages.

Health: Afghanistan - Women in Afghanistan have a one in 11 chance of dying in childbirth.

Cultural/tribal/religious: Pakistan - More than 1,000 women and girls are victims of "honour killings" every year, according to Pakistan's Human Rights Commission. 90% of women in Pakistan face domestic violence.

Sexual violence: Congo - About 1,150 women are raped every day, or some 420,000 a year, according to a recent report in the American Journal of Public Health The Congolese Women's Campaign Against Sexual Violence puts the number of rapes at 40 women a day.

Trafficking: India - 100 million people, mostly women and girls, are involved in trafficking in one way or another, according to former Indian Home Secretay Madhukar Gupta.