What a depraved world we must be living in! Now the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have more reason to fund more research into this topic!
Notice this is a meta study.
Notice again how the term survivor is (ideologically?) preferred/abused as if to suggest that most victims are murdered!
Notice how percentage estimates/forecasts are translated into x in y girls/boys. I am not sure this is proper!
On the Solomon Islands almost 43% of all girls are victims of sexual violence? What a Pacific Ocean island paradise? Caution: irony!
In Mongolia, only 4.2% of boys are victims? I guess, these famous Mongolian horde warriors are better left alone. According to Google search, Mongolian boys used to carry little daggers. Caution: satire!
As always with such studies, the definition of terms and the data sources matter a lot. Some doubt is usually in order. It appears e.g. this study did not distinguish any traditions, customs, or habits that may appear to Westerners as sexual violence, but may actually represent fairly harmless and accepted behavior.
The definition of "other contact sexual violence" appears to be dubious or too extensive.
Here is the excerpt that defines SVAC according to this study: "The case definition of SVAC used in this study is having ever experienced intercourse or other contact sexual violence (ie, fondling and other sexual touching) before the age of 18 years, in which the contact was unwanted (ie, physically forced or coerced).
This case definition does not include online abuse or exploitation, as information on these forms of violence is usually measured separately.
It also closely aligns with SDG Indicator 16.2.313 and the International Classification of Violence Against Children (ICVAC), a framework established by UNICEF that provides a set of internationally agreed upon operational concepts and definitions. In keeping with this system and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, we use the term violence to refer to any sexual violence against children, regardless of victim–perpetrator relationship. ..."
"Globally, at least 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 7 boys have experienced sexual violence before age 18, finds a new study published in The Lancet, considered “one of the most comprehensive assessments to date,” ...
A closer look: The study analyzed data from all countries spanning 1990–2023.
Rates of affected girls were highest in South Asia, at 26.8%; and highest in sub-Saharan Africa for boys, at 18.6% ...
However, the prevalence is “extremely high” worldwide, and the numbers are likely an underestimate.
Long-term effects: People who survive sexual violence in their youth face a higher risk for ongoing health issues, including depression, anxiety, STIs, substance abuse, and chronic conditions like asthma. ..."
From the abstract:
"Background
Measuring sexual violence against children (SVAC) is vital to prevention and advocacy efforts, yet existing prevalence studies present estimates for few countries. Here we estimate the prevalence of SVAC for 204 countries by age and sex, from 1990 to 2023, and also report the age at which young survivors of lifetime sexual violence first experienced sexual violence.
Methods
We reviewed publicly available repositories for data on the prevalence of SVAC. To harmonise heterogeneity in the identified input data, we adjusted for alternative case definitions of SVAC and differential disclosure by survey mode. We then used a spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to estimate a full time series of exposure to SVAC for each age-sex-country combination. We accounted for uncertainty in the underlying data and modelling processes. We also analysed the age at which adolescent and young adult survivors of lifetime sexual violence first experienced this type of violence by sex, data source, and world region.
Findings
We estimate that the global age-standardised prevalence of SVAC was 18·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 16·0–25·2) for females and 14·8% (9·5–23·5) for males in 2023.
At the super-region level, these estimates ranged from 12·2% (9·0–17·2) in southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania to 26·8% (21·9–32·7) in south Asia for females and from 12·3% (5·2–24·6) in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia to 18·6% (9·7–32·3) in sub-Saharan Africa for males.
At the country level, age-standardised estimates ranged from 6·9% (4·8–9·6) in Montenegro to 42·6% (34·4–52·1) in Solomon Islands among females and from 4·2% (1·7–9·2) in Mongolia to 28·3% (13·2–49·8) in Côte d’Ivoire among males. Globally, these estimates remained relatively stable since 1990, with slight variations at the country and regional levels.
We also find that the first experience of sexual violence among adolescents and young people occurred before the age of 18 years for 67·3% of female and 71·9% of male survivors.
Interpretation
The prevalence of SVAC is extremely high for both females and males across the globe. Given data sparsity and ongoing measurement challenges, findings probably underestimate the true pervasiveness of SVAC. An overwhelmingly high proportion of survivors first experienced sexual violence during childhood, revealing a narrow yet sensitive window that should be targeted in future prevention efforts. It is a moral imperative to protect children from violence and mitigate its compounding impacts on health across the lifecourse.
Funding
The Gates Foundation."
Figure 1 Number of sexual violence against children data sources for females (A) and males (B); most recent year of data for females (C) and males (D)
[Notice the huge areas of basically terra incognita!]
