Troubling count of child abuse continue to rise

'Cruel Numbers 2025' shows rising cases and persistent gender-based violence nationwide

LAHORE:

A total of 3,630 cases of child abuse were reported across Pakistan during 2025, averaging more than nine incidents every day, according to the annual 'Cruel Numbers 2025' report released on Monday by child rights organisation Sahil.

The report, compiled from monitoring 81 newspapers, shows an 8% increase in reported child abuse cases compared with 2024, indicating a continued upward trend in crimes against children across the country.

Gender analysis revealed that 1,924 victims, or 53%, were girls while 1,625, or 47%, were boys, in addition to 116 reported cases involving new-born babies, highlighting the vulnerability of children across different age groups.

Among the major crime categories documented were 1,107 cases of abduction, 596 cases of sodomy, 522 cases of rape and 365 cases of missing children, along with 195 attempted rapes, 141 attempted sodomy cases and 130 incidents of gang sodomy.

The report further recorded 108 cases of gang rape, 58 incidents in which children were murdered after sexual abuse and 53 cases of child marriages. Children aged between 11 and 15 years were identified as the most vulnerable group.

Geographically, the majority of cases were reported from Punjab with 73%, followed by Sindh at 21%, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa at 4% and 2% collectively from Balochistan, Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.