According to the United Nations Children’s Agency, more than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in every eight worldwide, have been raped or s#xually ass@ulted before the age of 18.
When “non-contact” forms of s#xual vi0lence, such as online or verbal abuse, are included, the figure jumps to 650 million, or one in every five people, according to UNICEF’s first worldwide survey on the issue. The report opens a new tab.
According to the report, while girls and women were the most impacted, 240 to 310 million boys and men, or around one in every eleven, had suffered r@pe or s#xual ab_se as children.
“The scale of this human rights vi0lation is overwhelming, and it’s been hard to fully grasp because of stigma, challenges in measurement, and limited investment in data collection,” UNICEF said in releasing the report.
UNICEF stated that its findings underscore the urgent need for more global action, such as improving legislation and assisting children in recognizing and reporting s#xual ab_se.
According to UNICEF, sexual assault crosses geographical, cultural, and economic lines, although Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of victims, with 79 million girls and women, or 22%, impacted. Eastern and South-Eastern Asia follow with 75 million, or 8%.
According to UNICEF’s data on women and girls, 73 million, or 9%, were affected in Central and Southern Asia; 68 million, or 14%, in Europe and Northern America; 45 million, or 18%, in Latin America and the Caribbean; and 29 million, or 15%, in Northern Africa and Western Asia.
