Feminicide refers to the murder of a woman because of being a woman, although some authors include within this term any death of a woman. It is a scourge with worldwide distribution, but it has not been studied with the impetus it deserves. The objective of the review is to describe the frequency of femicide, and the factors associated with the victim. A systematic search was carried out in MEDLINE, SCIELO and LILACS of scientific articles published in the last 10 years using the terms femicide, risk, incidence. Primary studies describing the frequency of the event and related factors were selected. Twenty-three studies were included in the review. Studies from all continents except Oceania were identified. The incidence of femicide is not widely reported, with most studies reporting only an absolute frequency of the event in a determined period. Among the studies, between 19 and 17,167 cases of femicide were reported. The studies with the highest number of reports of femicide were conducted in Brazil and South Africa. The reported incidence of femicide was between 0.08-12.9 per 100,000 women. Factors of femicide associated with the victim reported include young age, having a partner, being unemployed or a housewife, having basic schooling, among others.