Women and girls affected by female genital mutilation can be found in every local authority in England and Wales, with the highest number living in London, according to a major study which will place pressure on all councils to tackle the issue.

An estimated 137,000 women and girls are affected by FGM, with the highest rate of prevalence found in Southwark, according to the study by City University London and Equality Now.

In the south London borough, 4.7% of women are affected by FGM, while 10.4% of girls were born to mothers who had been subjected to the practice. In the London borough of Brent, 3.89% of women had suffered from FGM. The rate across England and Wales is 0.48%.

London as a whole had the highest prevalence rates by far, with 21 women per 1,000 affected by FGM. All of the 10 highest prevalence rates were located in local authorities within the capital, according to the study, which was funded by Trust for London and the Home Office.

Outside London, Manchester, Slough, Bristol, Leicester and Birmingham had high prevalence rates, ranging from 12 to 16 per 1,000, while other authorities, including Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Coventry, Sheffield, Reading, Thurrock, Northampton and Oxford had rates of more than seven per 1,000. Many, mainly rural, areas had prevalences well below one per 1,000, but cases were found in all local authorities in England and Wales.

The research combined information from surveys in 29 countries where FGM is commonly practised, with information from the 2011 census about women who had migrated to England and Wales, and birth data from the Office for National Statistics. Since last year, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published monthly statistics on FGM, which show that between September 2014 and March 2015, 3,963 newly identified cases were reported in England.

The report comes a year after the historic Girl Summit at which David Cameron vowed to crack down on FGM. The practice involves removing a girl’s outer sexual organs and can result in infertility, repeated infections, death and extreme pain during sex and childbirth. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, but that has yet to result in a single prosecution.

At the summit the prime minister announced that parents who failed to prevent their daughter being cut would be prosecuted, and announced the introduction of protection orders. A consultation on introducing mandatory reporting for professionals in the UK will be launched this week.

Last week Bedfordshire police used the UK’s first ever FGM protection order to seize the passports of two young girls who it was thought could be taken to Africa to be mutilated.

Mary Wandia, the FGM programme manager at Equality Now, said local authorities urgently needed to respond to the danger that had been exposed in their areas. “This means stepping up work to prevent it, protecting girls at risk, providing support to survivors, pursuing prosecutions when necessary and continuing to develop relevant partnerships,” she said.

Alison Macfarlane, a professor of perinatal health at City University London and author of the report, said support was needed for victims during pregnancy and childbirth, while older women may still need help because of long-term health complications. While it could not be assumed that women who had been through FGM would subject their daughters to the practice, “others may have not given up FGM and it is important to safeguard their daughters”, she said.

Preliminary findings published last year estimated that 103,000 female immigrants aged 15 to 49, 10,000 girls under 15 and about 24,000 women aged 50 or above had been subjected to FGM – a total of 137,000 women in England and Wales. The findings did not estimate the number of at-risk girls, but revealed 60,000 girls under 15 were born in England and Wales to mothers who had undergone FGM between 2001 and 2011.

In a speech on Wednesday marking the first anniversary of the Girl Summit, the development secretary, Justine Greening, is expected to praise global progress on eradicating FGM, but say there is a long way to go. She will promise that Britain “is going to keep fighting this battle, with a growing number of other countries and campaigners, until we win it for girls for good”.

Since the summit five countries with high levels of child marriage, including Bangladesh and Burkina Faso, have begun to change legislation to end FGM while Nigeria has banned it.