German authorities on Tuesday said that the number of registered cases of child sexual abuse in Germany had risen significantly over the past five years, with police recording 17,126 instances in 2025.

A report by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said that the figure was around 1,600 more than in 2021, representing a rise of 772 cases compared to 2024.

In more than half of all cases, suspects had a prior relationship with the survivors, with girls making up 74 per cent of victims.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, BKA chief Holger Münch and the government’s commissioner for child sexual abuse, Kerstin Claus, presented the figures in Berlin.

The national situation report is based on data from police crime statistics and focuses, in particular, on the areas of sexual abuse, abuse imagery (child pornography) 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 said.

The statistics reflected only crimes that were reported to authorities and processed by police, with the authors warning that a significant hidden figure of unreported cases must be assumed.

(dpa/NAN)