Sexual abuse against minors can be any sexual activity with a minor, such as fondling, oral-genital contact, intercourse, sex trafficking, exposing a minor to pornography or adult material, or suggestive sexual statements or comments.
Statistics show that minors are most often sexually abused by people they know, including family members and friends of or those known to the family or minor. Statistics vary by source or depth of research that can include personal views or bias, but they show that sexual abuse against minors is prevalent and worldwide.
The sourced articles below provide more stats on sexual abuse against minors.
- Fast Facts: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
“Many children wait to report or never report child sexual abuse. Therefore, the numbers below likely underestimate the true impact of the problem. Although estimates vary across studies, the research shows:
– About 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys in the United States experience child sexual abuse.
– Someone known and trusted by the child or child’s family members, perpetrates 91% of child sexual abuse.
– The total lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States in 2015 was estimated to be at least $9.3 billion.“
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, cdc.gov, accessed 6/21/2022
- Sexual Child Abuse Statistics
“- 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old.
– Over 65,000 children were sexually abused in 2016.
– 8.6% of reported child abuse cases were sexual abuse.
– 34% of people who sexually abuse a child are family members.
– 12.3% of girls were age 10 or younger at the time of their first rape/victimization, and 30% of girls were between the ages of 11 and 17.
– 27.8% of boys were age 10 or younger at the time of their first rape/victimization.
– 96% of people who sexually abuse children are male, and 76.8% of people who sexually abuse children are adults.
– 325,000 children are at risk of becoming victims of commercial child sexual exploitation each year.
– Caregiver alcohol or drug abuse is a child abuse risk factor putting kids at much higher risk for being abused.
– The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12 to 14 years old, and the average age for boys is 11 to 13 years old.”American Society for the Positive Care of Children (American SPCC), americanspcc.org, accessed 6/21/2022
- Facts About Child Abuse
“- 1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys will be sexually abused before they reach age 18.
– 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way. 68% are abused by a family member.”Child Protect, childprotect.org, accessed 6/21/2022; (Broken link removed 8/2023)
- International Child Sexual Exploitation Database
“Most people don’t realize that when we talk about child sexual abuse, this includes the abuse of very young children, and even babies. Following the examination of random selection of videos and images in the ICSE database, INTERPOL and ECPAT International published a joint report in February 2018 entitled Towards a Global Indicator on Unidentified Victims in Child Sexual Exploitation Material.
The study identified a number of alarming trends:
– The younger the victim, the more severe the abuse.
– 84% of images contained explicit sexual activity.
– More than 60% of unidentified victims were prepubescent, including infants and toddlers.
– 65% of unidentified victims were girls.
– Severe abuse images were likely to feature boys.
– 92% of visible offenders were male.”INTERPOL, interpol.int, accessed 6/21/2022
- Statistics On Trafficking And Exploitation
“According To The National Human Trafficking Hotline, Human Trafficking Cases Have Been Reported In All 50 States. … Commercial sexual exploitation of children includes the population of pre-pubescent children who are raped and whose abuse is then captured in a photograph or video and sold. This is called ‘child sexual abuse imagery or material.’ Children as young as infants are subject to this abuse.
– Nearly 26,500 runaways were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2020. 1 in 6 were likely victims of child sex trafficking. …
– In 2019, 11,500 situations of human trafficking were reported to the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline. …
– In 2020, the NCMEC CyberTipline received more than 21.7 million reports …”ECPAT-USA, ecpatusa.org, accessed 6/21/2022
- Child Sexual Abuse Statistics
“Child sexual abuse victims are normally chosen because they are considered ‘easy targets’ in one way or another. Often this is because the abuser already has a relationship with them and has developed trust with them and their families and may even have secured time alone with them. Children who are isolated or who have poor parent-child relationships or unavailable parents are also more likely to be victims.
Professionals can only estimate the child abuse statistics on the prevalence of the problem and estimates vary widely:
– Rates of female victimization range from 6-62% with most professionals believing the number is around 30%
– Rates of male victimization range from 3-24% with most professionals believing the number is around 14%
– Sexual abuse victims are found in all races and all socioeconomic groups
Child sexual abuse statistics also show that victims will deny the abuse, even after disclosure, far more often than they will make false reports.“
Natasha Tracy; Medically reviewed by Harry Croft, MD, healthyplace.com, updated 12/30/2021
- Current Of Child Sexual Abuse In Asia
“CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of CSA in Asia is still high and the age of the first victims is early adolescence. The majority of victims are women who already know the perpetrator, and taboo cultural factors are thought to play a role in increasing CSA in Asia. The results indicate the need to develop CSA prevention efforts that involve culture.”
Tetti Solehati, Iqbal Pramukti, Yanti Hermayanti, Cecep Eli Kosasih and Henny Suzana Mediani, Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, oamjms.eu, 11/12/2021
- Facts And Stats: Sexual Violence And Teenagers: Overview
“- More than 1 in 6 high school girls (16.6% White, 11.7% Black, and 14.2% Hispanic) experienced sexual dating violence in 2015.
– Girls are from 1.5 to more than 4.5 times more likely than their same-race male counterparts to experience sexual dating violence.
– One in 10 White, Black, and Hispanic high school girls have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to at some point during their lifetime.
– Hispanic, Black, and White boys were all less than likely to ever been physically forced to have sexual intercourse compared with their same-race female counterparts. White boys had the lowest rate at 2%.
– In 2015, 6% of all female high school students were absent from school at least one day due to concerns for their safety, with higher rates for Black (6.4% or 1 in 16) and Hispanic (7.4% or 1 in 13) female students and White female students with the lowest rate of 1 in 20.“
Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA), icasa.org, 2020
- Child Sexual Abuse Facts
“- 96 percent of people who sexually abuse children are male, 76 percent are married men, and 76.8 percent of people who sexually abuse children are adults.
– The younger the victim, the more likely it is that the abuser is a family member. Of those molesting a child under six, 50 percent were family members. Family members also accounted for 23 percent of those abusing children ages 12 to 17.“
YWCA, ywca.org, 9/2017
- Child Sexual Abuse Statistics: The Magnitude Of The Problem
“FACT: Even with declining rates of reported sexual abuse, the public is not fully aware of the magnitude of the problem. The primary reason is that only about 38% of child victims disclose the fact they have been sexually abused. Some never disclose. …
Nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults (including assaults on adults) occur to children aged 17 and under. Youths have higher rates of sexual assault victimization than do adults. In 2000, the rate for youths aged 12 to 17 was 2.3 times higher than for adults.“
Darkness to Light, d2l.org, updated 12/22/2015