Rape in OECD Countries: Actual Convictions, the Complaint‑ to‑ Conviction Gap, and Victim Gender Distribution– OECD Data

Important to know first:

OECD data measures actual convictions — not the real number of rape incidents.
In every country, most rape cases are not reported, and most complaints do not lead to conviction.

The attrition funnel: Why most cases never reach conviction

In every country in the world, the process of handling a rape offense includes five main stages:

A rape occurs
A small portion of cases → a complaint to the police
Some complaints → a full investigation
Some investigations → an indictment
Some indictments → a conviction

At every stage, cases “drop out” — therefore the conviction rate is far lower than the real number of rape incidents.

Table 1: Rape convictions per 100,000 population in OECD countries (≈2023)

Table 2: Complaint–Conviction Gap (absolute numbers + percentages)

Table 3: Victim gender distribution

Summary

OECD rape conviction data is not a measure of crime levels, but a measure of judicial efficiency, reporting levels, and the ability to bring cases to conviction.
The gap between complaints and convictions — and the gender distribution — shows how far official numbers are from reality.