Domestic violence refers to a variety of emotional, sexual, physical and verbal abuse against an intimate partner, child or other family members. Hitting, throwing objects, making derogatory comments, destroying property, threatening with a weapon, rape and incest are examples of domestic violence, which can happen alone or in combination.

Nowadays, mistreatment with women in family, which is a very common phenomenon all over the world, has disastrous effects and consequences for society. Although domestic violence against women has very long history, but only recently governments in different parts of the world have considered it as an important problem and provided some measures to deal with the annoying state of women against whom violence is committed.In Iran, in spite of the lack of official statistics about violence against women, there is some research which shows huge quantity of violence against women. The more the society is poor, traditional, and weak from cultural point of view, the more we have violence against women and it is more serious, as well as it has heavy toll.Violence against women has inevitable harms to the integrity of family and society, as well a bad effects on family's children. So to deal with this problem we should take strategically and practical steps toward reaction against domestic violence and protection of its victims. This article studies reactions by which we can manage this phenomenon.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of domestic and non-domestic violence (outside home) in Iran during 2015. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on individuals aged 15 and older living in urban and rural areas of Iran. A total of 36, 600 people from 31 provinces of Iran were selected by systematic and cluster random sampling using the postal code available in the country’, s post office software. A researcher-made survey questionnaire was used for evaluating violence. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Results: A total of 23. 1% of individuals have admitted domestic violence towards their families in the last 12 months, and 8. 1% have admitted non-domestic violence in the past 30 days. The prevalence of domestic and non-domestic violence was higher among males than females and in urban areas than rural places. In addition, the highest prevalence rate of domestic violence in the last 12 months was related to Lorestan province. Tehran province had the highest prevalence rate of non-domestic violence during the last 30 days. However, the lowest prevalence rate of domestic and non-domestic violence was related to Qom province. Conclusions: Based on the results, the prevalence rate of 23. 1% of domestic violence and 8. 1% of non-domestic violence necessitates preventing and treating this social problem. Therefore, health authorities need to take necessary action to raise awareness and reduce the risk-taking behaviors of the population in Iran.