The research team analysed 165 studies with data from 958,182 children from 80 countries in order to quantify the prevalence of sexual violence against children.

Lifetime sexual harassment was the most prevalent outcome, with a rate of 11.4%, followed by any contact sexual violence with a rate of 8.7%. Furthermore, 6.1% of children reported experiencing completed forced sexual intercourse in their lifetime, and 1.3% reported experiencing this in the preceding year. Rates of lifetime completed forced sexual intercourse were higher among girls (6.8%) compared with boys (3.3%). Antonio Piolanti summarises: ‘We found considerable variation across regions and countries in the reported prevalence of sexual violence. Older age of children, lower national income levels, and the use of school-based surveys were associated with higher rates of sexual violence reporting in some exploratory analyses.‘

‘The result of our study is not just alarmingly high numbers of children experiencing sexual violence,’ said Antonio Piolanti, lead author of the study Global Prevalence of Sexual Violence Against Children – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis in the highly renowned journal JAMA Pediatrics. He continues: ‘It shows us that we know far too little about individual areas. We urgently need more data on regions that have been little studied to date. Sexual violence against boys has also received less attention so far. The high rates of abuse also against boys show us that we should take a closer look here too.’

‘The World Health Organisation has already established that the laws to combat sexual violence against children are insufficiently enforced in many countries. However, it is important to emphasise that this violence can be prevented,’ continued Antonio Piolanti. Given the various types of sexual violence differentiated in the present study, the research team recommends that policy makers focus on lifetime prevalence rates of forced sexual intercourse. In general, more systematic and standardised data collection is urgently needed, especially in those regions where data is not yet available.