WOMEN OF THE WORLD - STATISTICS
(The following data were compiled from U.N. sources by Women's Feature Service)

Heterosexual transmission is the leading cause of HIV for women. Worldwide, 3,000 women are infected daily with the virus that causes AIDS.

Of the estimated $2 billion spent annually on AIDS prevention, only about 10 percent is spent in the developing world, where 85 percent of infections occur.

85 million to 114 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation worldwide; each year an estimated 2 million more girls suffer the practice in Africa, Asia or as immigrants or refugees in Europe and North America.

Maternal mortality rates have nearly halved since 1970, yet approximately 500,000 women still die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth every year, 1,500 every day.

A woman's risk of dying in childbirth in a developing country is 1 in 25-40, compared with 1 in 3,000 in developed countries.

It is estimated that one-fourth of women worldwide are physically battered.

In India, 6,200 dowry deaths were reported in 1994 - or an average of 17 married women were killed daily for failure to make dowry payments to the husband's family.