Child Abuse Statistics and Facts
Child abuse does not discriminate based on gender, social standing, ethnicity, or religion.
International Statistics on Child Abuse
- 40 million children subjected to abuse each year.
- Suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents worldwide.
- 30% of severely disabled children in special homes in the Ukraine die before 18 years of age.
- Approximately 20% of women and 5–10% of men report being sexually abused as children, while 25–50% of all children report being physically abused.
- Statistics indicate that 3 million young girls are subjected to genital mutilation every year.
U.S. Statistics on Child Abuse
The United States is much more capable of gathering and maintaining statistics of all types.
Physical Abuse:
Acts considered to be physical abuse are punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, breaking of bones, hair pulling, and shaking an infant. Bruises in areas that usually do not occur during normal play = cheeks, ears, mouth, buttocks, thighs, stomach, and back.
Neglect:
Neglect makes up for 78% of all cases of child abuse, and is greatly under-reported and often unnoticed by others who care for the child. Neglect includes inadequate nutrition, clothing and hygene; medical neglect, being left unattended in a car, and abandonment.
Sexual Abuse:
- Child rape occurs every two minutes
- 1 in 3 girls will be sexually molested before the age 17
- 1 in 6 boys will be sexually molested before the age 17 (1 in 5 in Canada)
- A sex offender will molest an average of 120 victims, most of whom do not report it
- 90% of molesters abuse children they know
- Oftentimes, a sexually abused child is abused in other ways
Overall U.S. child abuse statistics:
- Every 10 seconds a child is abused or raped
- 3.3 million child abuse reports in 2010
- For every report 2 more go unreported = many millions abused annually
- 61,000 reports to Child Protective services per week = 6 per minute
- Of 1.5 million runaways 85% are fleeing some form of abuse
- Only 10% of abusers do not know their abuser well
- Abuse victims = about 48% male, 52% female
- Every race and religion sees child abuse
The effects of UNTREATED child abuse:
- 38% increase arrest rate for violent crimes
- 84% of all prison inmates had been abused as a child
- 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile
- 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult
- 30% more likely to commit violent crime
- 65%+ of people in treatment for drug abuse have been maltreated as a child
- 25% less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at a greater risk for STD’s
- 82% CAN grow up to be pedophiles themselves
- 80% meet criteria for at least one psychological disorder as adults
- Long-term consequences such as chronic illness due to untreated wounds
Child death and suicide related to abuse:
- 1,850 children die a year from some form of child abuse = 7+ children a day in the U.S. alone!
- 80% of the children that die each day are under the age of four
- TODAY 6 children will commit suicide due to child abuse
- Estimated 60% of child deaths caused by child abuse are not recorded as such on death certificates
Source: National and State Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics – www.childwelfare.gov
FBI Violent Crimes Against Children – www.fbi.gov
United States Department Of Justice – www.justice.gov
United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime – www.unodc.org
- Approximately 5 children die every day because of 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.
- In 2012, 82.2% of child abuse perpetrators were found to be between the ages of 18-44, of which 39.6% were recorded to be between the ages of 25-34.
- In the United States, more than 4 children die from child abuse and neglect on a daily basis. Over 70% of these children are below the age of 3.
- Boys (48.5%) and girls (51.2%) become victims at nearly the same rate.
- 2.9 million cases of child abuse are reported every year in the United States.
- Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violence crime.
- About 80% of 21-year-olds who were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.
- 14% of all men and 36% of all women in prison were abused as children.
- Abused children are less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs. They’re also 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.