Last Year, 53,932 Child Abuse Reports... 27.6% Increase from Previous Year

Increased Public Interest and COVID-19 Return to Normal Life Impact
Parents as Abusers Account for 83.7%, the Highest Proportion

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Both the number of reported child abuse cases and those determined to be cases of repeated abuse increased by about 20% compared to the previous year. This is analyzed to be influenced by the growing public interest in child abuse and the recovery of daily life following the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 31st, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it published the "2021 Annual Report on Child Abuse," which contains these details, and submitted it to the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee. According to the Child Welfare Act provisions, the Ministry of Health and Welfare must submit the status of child abuse annually to the National Assembly.

According to the report, the number of child abuse reports received last year was 53,932, an increase of 27.6% compared to the previous year. The number of child abuse reports has been increasing every year: 34,169 in 2017 → 36,417 in 2018 → 41,389 in 2019 → 42,251 in 2020.

Among these, cases determined to be child abuse after investigation by dedicated officials totaled 37,605, which also increased by 21.7% compared to the previous year. The number of abuse determinations has also been on the rise annually since 22,367 cases in 2017.

The number of repeated abuse cases has also steadily increased, rising from 2,160 in 2017 to 2,543 in 2018, 3,431 in 2019, 3,671 in 2020, and 5,517 in 2021.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare analyzed that the significant increase in child abuse determinations is due to rising public interest, strengthened government policy responses, and the impact of COVID-19. Since the phased recovery of daily life began last year, cases of detecting signs of crisis at schools and other places have increased. The number of child abuse reports by school staff decreased from 5,901 in 2019 to 3,805 in 2020 but rebounded to 6,065 last year.

The child abuse victim discovery rate, which indicates the number of abuse cases found per 1,000 children, was recorded at 5.02%, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. Although the number of reports and determinations increased, and the discovery rate rose, it remains lower compared to advanced countries such as the United States (8.4% in 2020) and Australia (12.4% in 2019).

Perpetrators of child abuse were mostly parents (31,486 cases), accounting for 83.7% of all cases. Substitute caregivers, including cohabitants of parents and school staff, accounted for 9.6%, followed by relatives at 4.0%.

By type of abuse, emotional abuse accounted for 12,351 cases, physical abuse 5,780 cases, neglect 2,793 cases, and sexual abuse 655 cases. The most common were overlapping types combining these, totaling 16,026 cases.

Last year, 40 children died due to child abuse, a decrease of 3 from the previous year. Among the children who died from abuse, 37.5% (15 children) were infants under 24 months old.