Female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female circumcision, is the ritualistic removal of all or part of a girl’s genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is usually performed in infancy or early childhood as a rite of passage but is performed on teens and adult women as well. The practice is most common in the northern regions of Africa and in some countries in the Middle East and Asia, but it is illegal in many nations. Some sources report that over 90 percent of women over the age of 15 in countries such as Egypt, Somalia, and Sudan were mutilated as children. Other places where female genital mutilation is practiced include Ethiopia, The Gambia, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Yemen.