Statistics published on Monday show that 10 women were murdered by their boyfriends or husbands during the first 10 months of 2008. The numbers show a drop from the past three years, when an average of over 20 women a year were murdered by their spouses.

In 2008 so far, one new immigrant was murdered by her partner, a sharp drop from 2005 and 2006, when half of all murdered wives were new immigrants, most of them from Ethiopia. In 2007 one fourth of those killed by their spouses were Ethiopian. Absorption Ministry workers credited an increased willingness to seek help in domestic violence situations for the drop in deaths.