Statistics

About 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience child sexual abuse at some point in childhood.

  • Every 98 seconds another American is sexually assaulted.
  • 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator.
  • From 2009-2013, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate that, 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse.
  • A majority of child victims are 12-17. Of victims under the age of 18: 34% of victims of sexual assault and rape are under age 12, and 66% of victims of sexual assault and rape are age 12-17.
  • Abuse via technology has grown in the past few years, accounting for approximately one in seven (13%) of youth Internet users who received unwanted sexual solicitations.

Sources:​

Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I. A., & Smith, C. (1990). Sexual abuse in a national survey of adult men and women: Prevalence, characteristics and risk factors. Child Abuse & Neglect 14, 19-28. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(90)90077-7

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015).

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement (2000).

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. Child Maltreatment Survey, 2012 (2013).

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Female Victims of Sexual Violence, 1994-2010 (2013). (Due to rounding, this statistic may not total 100%. RAINN presents this data for educational purposes only, and strongly recommends using the citations to review any and all sources for more information and detail.)

Mitchell, K. J., Jones, L. M., Finkelhor, D., & Wolak, J. (2011). Internet-facilitated commercial sexual exploitation of children: Findings from a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies in the United States. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, 23(1), 43–71.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021), https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childsexualabuse/fastfact.html