German police recorded some 18,000 victims of child sexual abuse in 2024, according to a report released by the Federal Criminal Police Office on Thursday.

The vast majority of targeted by sexual abuse, child pornography and sexual exploitation were girls, with 13,365, while 4,720 cases recorded involved boys, the BKA said.

In 57 per cent of all cases, it said the suspect and the victim knew each other prior to the offence.

A substantial part of the offences recorded took place online, said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt when presenting the report in Berlin.

In 2024, police were investigating 16,354 cases of child sexual abuse, with no notable improvement on the 16,375 cases registered the year before.

Those cases may each include more than one child, for example in instances of child pornography, leading to a higher number of victims overall.

Both the 16,354 cases and the 18,000 victims recorded by the BKA in 2024 may include children targeted more than once.

The BKA recorded a total of 12,368 suspects, up 3.9 per cent year-on-year.

Most cases involved children younger than 14, with police registering some 1,200 cases of sexual abuse targeting teenagers between age 14 and 17.

The statistics only include cases that were known to police, with the actual numbers feared to be much higher.

Dobrindt described the figures as having reached an unacceptable level.

He reaffirmed plans by the government to require telecom providers to store IP addresses for three months to allow investigators to track down offenders more easily.

Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig confirmed that the government was looking to make available new tools to enable better prosecution.

“I am confident that we can achieve important things in the protection of children and young people in this electoral term,” she said in a statement.

BKA chief Holger Munich welcomed the plans.

The planned measures will make investigations more effective, he said in Berlin.

 (dpa/NAN)