Table A06: Estimated number and weighted prevalence of internet-using children aged 12–17 who
were threatened with the distribution of sexual images or videos of themselves in the year prior to
being surveyed, by country (2024–2025).
Country
Number of children
subjected to abuse
Percentage of subjected to
abuse
Armenia
944
0.4
Brazil
618717
3.7
Colombia
142418
3.3
Dominican Republic
36969
3.2
Mexico
244266
1.9
Montenegro
442
0.9
North Macedonia
5304
4.2
Pakistan
136738
0.6
Serbia
3284
0.8
Sum
1189081
Average Percentage
2%
Commentary: Across the nine countries included here, children’s exposure to threats or blackmail
to engage in sexual activities ranged from 0.8 per cent to 4.4 per cent, with an overall average of
3 per cent (table A05). In the same nine countries, children’s exposure to threats of having sexual
images or videos of themselves shared with others ranged from 0.4 per cent to 4.2 per cent, with
an overall average of 2 per cent (table A06). This demonstrates a wide variation between countries,
highlighting that children’s experiences differ substantially across contexts, with similar caveats as
in relation to overall prevalence.
While perpetrators may threaten children without possessing any compromising material, sexual
extortion commonly involves using sexual images or videos as leverage to coerce children into
producing additional sexual content, or engaging in sexual acts online or in person. By leveraging
children’s fear of exposure, perpetrators are able to maintain control, escalate their demands
and prolong the exploitation and abuse. The increasing availability of artificial intelligence tools
introduces a further dimension to this form of exploitation, as these tools can be used to fabricate
compromising material for perpetrators to leverage, even where no real sexual images exist.
Through Children’s Eyes
Appendix
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