Statistics on child sexual abuse
March 2013
- Nearly a quarter of young adults experienced sexual abuse during childhood.
- 17,186 sexual crimes against children under 16 were recorded in England and Wales in 2011/12.
Research statistics on the prevalence of child sexual abuse
Child abuse and neglect in the UK today (Radford et al, 2011) is a major piece of NSPCC research which interviewed 1,761 young adults aged 18-24 years; 2,275 children aged 11-17 years and 2,160 parents of children aged under 11.
Below are the key findings on child sexual abuse.
Experience of some form of sexual abuse (see Table 5.2)
- Nearly a quarter of young adults (24.1%) experienced sexual abuse (including contact and non-contact), by an adult or by a peer during childhood.
- One in six children aged 11-17 (16.5%) have experienced sexual abuse.
- Almost one in 10 children aged 11-17 (9.4%) have experienced sexual abuse in the past year. Teenage girls aged between 15 and 17 years reported the highest past year rates of sexual abuse.
Experience of contact sexual abuse (see Table 5.2)
- One in nine young adults (11.3%) experienced contact sexual abuse during childhood.
- One in 20 children aged 11-17 (4.8%) have experienced contact sexual abuse.
- Two thirds (65.9%) of contact sexual abuse experienced by children aged 0-17 was perpetrated by someone aged under 18.
Disclosing sexual abuse (see page 9)
- More than one in three children aged 11-17 (34%) who experienced contact sexual abuse by an adult did not tell anyone else about it.
- Four out of five children aged 11-17 (82.7%) who experienced contact sexual abuse from a peer did not tell anyone else about it.
From: Radford, Lorraine, Corral, Susana, Bradley, Christine, Fisher, Helen, Bassett, Claire, Howat, Nick and Collishaw, Stephan (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.
Child protection register statistics
- There were 2,926 children in the UK on child protection registers or the subject of child protection plans under a category that included sexual abuse on 31 March 2012 (or 31 July 2012 in Scotland).
- 6% of all the children on child protection registers or the subject of child protection plans in the UK were under a category that included sexual abuse on 31 March 2012 (or 31 July 2012 in Scotland).
For a breakdown by nation and the source of these figures please visit our page on child protection register statistics .
Crime statistics on sex offences
England and Wales
- 17,186 sexual crimes against children under 16 were recorded in England and Wales in 2011/12.
- 32% of all sexual crimes (53,664 sexual crimes in total) recorded in England and Wales in 2011/12 were sexual crimes against children under 16.
4,991 offences of rape of a female child under 16
889 offences of rape of a male child under 16
3,986 offences of sexual assault on a female child under 13
1,010 offences of sexual assault on a male child under 13
5,779 offences of sexual activity involving a child under 16
160 offences of abuse of children through prostitution and pornography
371 offences of sexual grooming.
- In 2011/12 the police in England and Wales also recorded 176 offences of abuse of a position of trust involving a child under 18.
- More than one third (37%) of all rapes recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2011/12 were committed against children under 16 years of age.
From: Chaplin, Rupert, Faltley, John and Smith, Kevin (eds.) (2011) Table 2.04. In: Crime in England and Wales 2010/11: findings from the British Crime Survey and police recorded crime (PDF). London: National Statistics. p.43.
- Police recorded over 23,000 sex offences against children aged under 18 years in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2011.
From: Information obtained by NSPCC from all 43 police forces in England and Wales under the Freedom of Information Act. See: NSPCC (2012) Figures obtained by the NSPCC reveal sixty child sex offences a day. NSPCC press release 4 April 2012. London: NSPCC.
Offender statistics
- 40,345 individuals were registered as sexual offenders in England and Wales on 31 March 2012.
It is not possible to establish the number of sexual offenders against children in the UK, as the age of the victim of the sex offence is not given. Therefore these figures include sex offenders against adults as well as sex offenders against children.
From: Ministry of Justice (2012) Table 1. In: Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) annual report 2011/12 (PDF). London: Ministry of Justice.Under the Freedom of Information Act, the NSPCC received the following information from the National Police Improvement Agency:
- 61,397 offenders are on the Sex Offenders Register
- Of these, 29,837 are on the Register for sexual offences against children
- 941 offenders on the Register for offences against children have re-offended.
From: NSPCC (2012) Nearly a thousand registered child sex abusers reoffended. NSPCC press release, 18 November 2012. London: NSPCC.
From: Grubin, Don (1998) Sex offending against children: understanding the risk (PDF). London: Home Office. pp.v-vi and p.26.
From: Lovell, Elizabeth (2002) Children and young people who display sexually harmful behaviour. London: NSPCC.
Cawson, P. et al (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC.
Horne, L.et al (1991) Sexual abuse of children by children. Journal of Child Law, 3(4): 147-151.
Kelly, L., Regan, L. and Burton, S. (1991) An exploratory study of the prevalence of sexual abuse in a sample of 16-21 year olds. London: Polytechnic of North London, Child Abuse Studies Unit.
Morrison, T. (1999) Is there a strategy out there? In: Erooga, M. and Masson, H. (eds) Children and young people who sexually abuse others: challenges and responses. London: Routledge.
Royal Belfast Hospital and Queen's University of Belfast (1990) Child sexual abuse in Northern Ireland: a research study of incidence. Antrim: Greystone Books.
Children talking to ChildLine about sexual abuse
- Children talking to ChildLine about sexual abuse
Mariathasan, Jeevi
London: NSPCC, 2010
A ChildLine casenote based on analysis of calls to ChildLine about sexual abuse from April 2008 to March 2009. Looks at the number of children counselled, additional problems children talk about, types of sexual abuse reported, age and gender breakdown of callers and perpetrators.
- Calls to ChildLine about sexual abuse
ChildLine
London: NSPCC, 2007
A ChildLine casenote based on analysis of calls to ChildLine about sexual abuse from April 2005 to March 2006. Includes statistics on sexual abuse including who children tell and what happens then, and the victim-offender relationship.
Further reading
People convicted of child abuse image offencesAnalysis of 284 cases reported in local and national news of people convicted for making, possessing or distributing indecent images of children.
Sexual and physical violence against children in Northern Ireland: a statistical overview of recorded crime 2008–10 (PDF, 393KB)
Analysis of offences recorded by the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Child protection register statisticsOur annual summary of child protection register statistics for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
How to find, understand and use statistics about child abuseA brief introduction to child abuse statistics.
Comparing child abuse statistics over time and between countriesExplains the issues around looking for trends in statistics over time, within the UK and internationally.
Thousands of young people committing child sex abuseFindings from an NSPCC FOI request sent to all police forces in England and Wales.
Contact the NSPCC Information Service for further information on sexual abuse, statistics or any child protection topic
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