The study covering six countries – Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka – found that 10% of men admitted to raping at least once a woman who was not their partner, a figure that rose to nearly 25% when rape of a partner was included.

Nearly 75% of those who had committed rape said they did so because they felt sexually entitled; more than half said they did it for entertainment.

The UN-led study on men and violence collected data from more than 10,000 men and 3,000 women aged 18-49 between 2010 and 2013 in order to understand why men commit violence against women and what can be done to prevent it.

The findings are significant because the Asia-Pacific region is home to over half of the world’s population, making the amount and range of information collected “unprecedented and ground-breaking”, said Dr Emma Fulu of Partners for Prevention, the joint-UN programme that co-ordinated the study.