Facts and figures about child abuse

• Three-quarters (72%) of sexually abused children did not tell anyone about the abuse at the time. 27% told someone later. Around a third (31%) still had not told anyone about their experience(s) by early adulthood.¹
  
• Police recorded over 23,000 sex offences against children aged under 18 years in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2011.²
  
• In 2010/11, ChildLine counsellors dealt with nearly 670,000 contacts from children about various problems including, bullying, sex abuse, violence and mental health issues.³
  
• On average, every week in England and Wales at least one child is killed at the hands of another person.⁴
  
• Children under one are the age group most at-risk of being killed at the hands of another person.⁵
  
• In 2011, almost 21,000 allegations of children suffering abuse were passed from the NSPCC to police or children’s services.⁶

See our statistics pages for more information.

1. Source: Cawson, P. et al. (2000) Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. London: NSPCC. p.83.

2. Source: Source: Information obtained by NSPCC from police all 43 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.

3. Source: NSPCC.

4. Source: Home Office (2011) Table 1.07. In: Smith, Kevin (ed.) et al (2011) Homicides, firearms offences and intimate violence 2009/10: supplementary volume 2 to crime in England and Wales 2009/2010. London: Home Office.

5. Source: Home Office (2011) Paragraph 1.1 on p.11 of: Smith, Kevin (ed.) et al (2011) Homicides, firearms offences and intimate violence 2009/10: supplementary volume 2 to crime in England and Wales 2009/2010. London: Home Office.

6. Source: NSPCC (2012) Helpline highlight: a year in review. London: NSPCC.