Today a Facebook post told me that 850,000 children were being sexually abused annually in the US. I ran my calculations and came up with 721,000, which is pretty close, there are many variables involved.
But that number by itself can be misleading as it doesn't tell the full story, or even come close.
According to infoplease.com there are 72 million children under the age of 18 in the USA. Approx 38.5m would be girls and 34.5m boys. If 20% of girls and 8% of boys are molested before they turn 18, then the annual total would be 583,000. However, I suspect both of those percentages to be low – 25% and 10% are probably more accurate today.
At those percentages the annual total would be about 721,000; 535,000 girls; 186,000 boys.
These numbers, however, only reflect the number of children being abused, not the actual number of abuses. As you know, if you've read this blog for awhile, the majority of abused children are abused multiple times.
In many 3rd world countries, an horrendous percentage of these kids are involved in prostitution, whether willingly or otherwise. For them the number of times they are abused are probably well into the thousands.
I don’t see that being as prevalent in the US, though it certainly exists. There are, however, many children involved in the exploding child pornography industry who may qualify for multiple abuse numbered in the several dozens or even hundreds.
So, if we estimate the average abused child is molested 5 times in their first 17 years, 364 days, then the total number of child sexual abuses each year would equal 2,675,000; 1.9m girls; 760,000 boys.
If we use 10 as the average number of abuses then 5,350,000 child sexual abuses occur each year; 3.8m girls; 1.5m boys.
If we use 25 as the average number of abuses then 13,375,000 child sexual abuses occur each year; 9.5m girls; 3.8m boys. Remember, all these numbers apply only to the US.
The toll on the lives of these children as they grow up is almost immeasurable. So many end up with major psychological problems, drug or alcohol addictions, very low self-worth evaluation, suicidal thoughts, or end up in jail, or in abusive relationships.
The problem is still increasing dramatically and, I believe is virtually destroying a generation of children. Please support any and all efforts to end child sex abuse, and please join my prayer team and pray my 3:15PM prayer.
For more information on child sex abuse visit here, and for global statistics visit here.
But that number by itself can be misleading as it doesn't tell the full story, or even come close.
According to infoplease.com there are 72 million children under the age of 18 in the USA. Approx 38.5m would be girls and 34.5m boys. If 20% of girls and 8% of boys are molested before they turn 18, then the annual total would be 583,000. However, I suspect both of those percentages to be low – 25% and 10% are probably more accurate today.
At those percentages the annual total would be about 721,000; 535,000 girls; 186,000 boys.
These numbers, however, only reflect the number of children being abused, not the actual number of abuses. As you know, if you've read this blog for awhile, the majority of abused children are abused multiple times.
In many 3rd world countries, an horrendous percentage of these kids are involved in prostitution, whether willingly or otherwise. For them the number of times they are abused are probably well into the thousands.
I don’t see that being as prevalent in the US, though it certainly exists. There are, however, many children involved in the exploding child pornography industry who may qualify for multiple abuse numbered in the several dozens or even hundreds.
So, if we estimate the average abused child is molested 5 times in their first 17 years, 364 days, then the total number of child sexual abuses each year would equal 2,675,000; 1.9m girls; 760,000 boys.
If we use 10 as the average number of abuses then 5,350,000 child sexual abuses occur each year; 3.8m girls; 1.5m boys.
If we use 25 as the average number of abuses then 13,375,000 child sexual abuses occur each year; 9.5m girls; 3.8m boys. Remember, all these numbers apply only to the US.
The toll on the lives of these children as they grow up is almost immeasurable. So many end up with major psychological problems, drug or alcohol addictions, very low self-worth evaluation, suicidal thoughts, or end up in jail, or in abusive relationships.
The problem is still increasing dramatically and, I believe is virtually destroying a generation of children. Please support any and all efforts to end child sex abuse, and please join my prayer team and pray my 3:15PM prayer.
For more information on child sex abuse visit here, and for global statistics visit here.
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