The paper explores the so-called Nordic gender equality paradox, whereby rates of gender-based violence are higher in countries that are typically associated with greater gender equality (Gracia and Merlo, 2016). In this paper, we want to explore the ‘Nordic Paradox’ further. We critically examine EU Agency for Fundamental Rights’ (FRA) EU-wide survey on violence against women as measure of prevalence (2012). While recognising the rigorous and robust methodology employed by such surveys, we also recognise that they only capture disclosed violence as opposed to actual levels of violence. This means that we conceptualise actual violence as the sum of disclosed and undisclosed violence. The ‘Nordic Paradox’ needs to be reassessed in relation to this conceptual shift. It might be for example that it is not that there is more violence in Nordic countries, but instead greater awareness, less acceptance and therefore higher levels of disclosure. In this analysis, we therefore consider a range of methodological and contextual factors of relevance to prevalence data on violence against women. In a second related step, we use the results of these analyses to provide a tentative ‘corrected’ ranking of EU countries. We discuss similarities and differences between the two classifications, and draw out methodological and policy implications.