National Child Abuse Statistics

  •  4.3 million child maltreatment referral reports received.
  • Child abuse reports involved 7.8 million children.
  • 91.7% of victims are maltreated by one or both parents.
  • Only 3.3 million children received prevention & post-response services.
  • 146,706 children received foster care services.
  • 411,969 victims (60.8%) are neglected.
  • 72,814 victims (10.7%) are physically abused.
  • 47,124 victims (7%) are sexually abused.
  • 15,605 victims (2.3%) are psychologically maltreated.
  • Highest rate of child abuse in children under age one (26.7 per 1,000).
  • Annual estimate: 1,770 children died from abuse and neglect in 2018.
  • Almost five children die every day from child abuse.
  • Seventy-one (70.6%) percent of all child fatalities were younger than 3 years old.
  • 80.3% of child fatalities involve at least one parent.
  • Of the children who died, 72.8% suffered neglect.
  • Of the children who died, 46.1% suffered physical abuse either exclusively or in combination with another maltreatment type.
  • 46.6% of children who die from child abuse are under one year.
  • Boys had a higher child fatality rate than girls (2.87 boys & 2.19 girls per 100,000)
  • Almost 65,000 children are sexually abused.
  • 2018 is the first year for which states are reporting the new maltreatment type of sex trafficking. For 2018, 27 states report 741 unique victims of sex trafficking.
  • For victims of the sex trafficking maltreatment type, the majority (89.1%) are female and 10.4 percent are male.
  • Estimated that between 50-60% of maltreatment fatalities are not recorded on death certificates.
  • Child abuse crosses all socioeconomic and educational levels, religions, ethnic and cultural groups.
  • 14% of all men in prison and 36% of women in prison in the USA were abused as children, about twice the frequency seen in the general population.
  • Children who experience child abuse & neglect are approximately 9 times more likely to become involved in criminal activity.