That's according to a new Lancet study.
The research used information from a WHO database and included women between the ages of 15 and 49, which covers 90% of women worldwide.
Levels of abuse differed across different countries and socioeconomic classes.
Author of the study Claudia Garcia-Moreno says issues that lead to violence against women need to be addressed early:
"There's some growing evidence of interventions for example, school based interventions, for both boys and girls, addressing issues of equality in relationships, respect, consent, addressing really the social norms in that still prevail around the acceptability of these forms of violence."
