UNICEF estimates 20 million children suffered online sexual abuse in one year

(Reuters)

GENEVA, Sept 3 – About 20 million internet-using children across ​21 countries were subjected to sexual exploitation or abuse on digital platforms in a single year, with most cases occurring ‌on social media platforms, a new report by the U.N. children’s charity said on Thursday.

More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe experienced at least one form of sexual abuse or exploitation on online platforms in the year before being surveyed, the UNICEF report estimated.

Roughly 15 ​million children in the countries surveyed were exposed to unwanted sexual content, 9 million were pressured into sexual conversations or sharing sexual ​images, and 4 million had sexual images shared without their consent, the report found.

The number of children subjected to ⁠this abuse globally is certain to run into many tens of millions, it said.

The research, which UNICEF described as one of the largest studies ​of its kind, was based on national representative surveys collected between 2020 and 2025 of around 21,000 internet-using children in the 21 countries, which ​included Kenya, Pakistan, Brazil and Serbia.