German authorities have reported a significant rise in child sexual abuse cases over the past five years, with police recording 17,126 cases in 2025.
According to a report released by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the figure represents an increase of about 1,600 cases compared to 2021 and 772 more cases than were recorded in 2024.
The report showed that in more than half of the cases, suspects were known to the victims, while girls accounted for 74 per cent of those affected.
The figures were presented in Berlin by Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, BKA President Holger Münch and the Federal Government Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues, Kerstin Claus.
The national situation report draws on police crime statistics and focuses on child sexual abuse, child abuse imagery and the sexual exploitation of minors.
“A total of 18,736 victims were registered in connection with the sexual abuse of children, an increase of 3.6 per cent.
“A single child can appear in the statistics more than once if they were victimised repeatedly.
“Of the victims, 13,870 were girls and 4,866 were boys.
“The number of suspects also rose from 12,368 to 12,823. These were mainly male suspects acting alone,” the report stated.
The report noted that the figures reflect only offences reported to authorities and processed by the police.
It also cautioned that the actual number of cases could be significantly higher, as many incidents of child sexual abuse remain unreported.
