One in eight children in south Asia has faced sexual assault, says new study

One in eight children in south Asia have experienced rape or sexual assault during childhood, a study conducted by Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute, University of Edinburgh, has revealed. The study titled Index on Global Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse 2025 was released at the c0c0n 2025, an annual cybersecurity conference organised by the Kerala Police, here on Friday.

According to the data, 14.5% of women and 11.5% of men in the region recalled the harrowing experiences. The data is representative from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to Childlight. “Even if we look at that based on the population size, that data accounts for 54 million children in those three countries. That’s quite significant,” Deborah Fry, Global Director of Data, Professor of International Child Protection Research at Childlight told The Hindu.

The study says India, Pakistan and Bangladesh alone received reports of nearly 4.5 million child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in 2024. CSAM refers to any visual depiction of the sexual abuse or exploitation of a minor, including computer-generated materials. Alarmingly, a staggering 1,325% rise in harmful AI-generated online abuse materials have been recorded globally during 2023-24 compared to the previous year, the study says.

Largest in Maldives

In the south Asia scenario, Maldives has the largest CSAM rate in the region with 94 reports per 10,000 people. India has the highest volume of CSAM but the lowest CSAM rate (15.5%) in the region considering the large population size, the study notes.

Childlight has warned of a potential increase in AI-generated CSAM in the coming years. “India will be experiencing increase in AI-generated CSAM and it is important to make future-proof legislation to deal with these new and emerging types of harms. That is a key recommendation in the report,” said Ms. Fry.

The study has also called for continued efforts to detect and remove CSAM while prioritising victim identification and safeguarding support to the victims.