84% of Child Abuse Perpetrators Are Parents... 30 Children Died Last Year

Child Abuse Cases Reach 24,000 Last Year, 30 Children Die
Emotional Abuse Accounts for Nearly Half of Confirmed Cases
Most Perpetrators Are Parents; 8 in 10 Cases Occur at Home

It was reported that the number of child abuse cases last year reached over 24,000. Among these, 30 children died as a result of abuse.

On August 29, the Ministry of Health and Welfare released the "2024 Child Abuse Statistics Report." According to the report, there were a total of 50,242 reports of child abuse last year, an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year (48,522 cases). Of these, 24,492 cases were ultimately confirmed as actual abuse following investigations by dedicated child abuse officers and others. This figure represents a 4.8% decrease from 25,739 cases in 2023.

The proportion of reports made by the children themselves doubled from 14% in 2020 to 28% last year. Reports made by parents also increased from 16% to 24% during the same period.

Last year, there were over 24,000 cases of child abuse reported, with 30 children identified as victims who died. Image generated by ChatGPT

By type, emotional abuse accounted for nearly half of all cases, with 11,466 incidents. This was followed by physical abuse (4,625 cases), neglect (1,800 cases), and sexual abuse (619 cases).

Most children were found to have been abused by their primary caregivers. In 20,603 cases (84.1%) last year, the abuser was a parent. Although this proportion decreased slightly from 85.9% the previous year, it remains overwhelmingly high. There were also cases where the abuser was an alternative caregiver (7%) or a relative (2.7%).

Last year, 30 children died as a result of abuse. By age, 17 children (56.7%) who died were under the age of two (under 36 months), and a total of 21 children (70.0%) were infants and toddlers aged six or younger. Additionally, there were four victims aged 7-9 and five teenage victims. Of these, 24 children died from direct causes such as fatal physical abuse or homicide, while six died from fatal neglect, such as not being taken to the hospital in time.

About 8 out of 10 abuse cases (20,316 cases, 82.9%) occurred at home. There were 2,292 cases in which abused children were separated from their families for protection, accounting for 9.4% of all abuse cases. This includes 1,575 cases of "immediate separation" (temporary protection) measures introduced in March 2021. Among last year's abuse cases, 3,896 cases (15.9%) were repeat abuse. The repeat abuse rate has remained around 16% for three consecutive years since 2022. However, the proportion of children who were abused again within one year after a previous incident decreased slightly from 9.6% in 2022 to 8.7% last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.