In 2003, the United Nations (UN) called for an in-depth study on all forms of violence against women. This was intended to be, “A statistical overview on all forms of violence against women, in order to better evaluate the scale of such violence, while identifying gaps in: 1 - Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Doc A/RES/48/104, 20 December 1993; 2- Fourth World Conference on Women Platform for Action, Strategic Objective D.2, No. 129(a), 1995. 3 - Violence in the Americas - A Regional Analysis Including a Review of the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women: Executive Summary, 2000. The data collection and formulating proposals for assessing the extent of the problem.”4 One of the specific areas to be examined is the economic costs of violence against women. This brief is written within the context of this larger UN study, and its purpose is to provide an overview of the work that has been undertaken world-wide on the economic costs of this gender-based violence. The focus of the analysis is to examine estimates of the costs of violence, to compare methodologies used, and to understand the scope of what has been accomplished to date. The paper analyzes existing studies, shows their geographic coverage, indicates the types of costs addressed, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies used.