Gender-based violence is a globally prevalent health, developmental and humanitarian problem arising from gender inequalities in society. The concept result from a feminist perspective that defines it as any form of harmful action directed at a person because of his or her gender and is based on the unequal power relations of men and women in society. The first aim of this paper is to present and analyze relevant research on gender-based violence at the global level, while the second aim is to determine an index of gender-based violence for EU Member States. The presented research deals with gender-based violence in three areas: prevalence and phenomenology, predictors and the school context of gender-based violence. The highest prevalence of gender-based violence is in the regions of Africa and Southeast Asia. Every third woman in the world has experienced some form of gender-based violence. The most common forms of experienced gender-based violence are psychological, physical and sexual violence. Significant predictors of gender-based violence are lower education, experienced childhood violence, economic deprivation, and lack of social support. The resulting index of gender-based violence is highest in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden and Finland, indicating a higher risk of gender-based violence problems in these countries.