With over 11 billion phones connected to the internet, bullying and harassment have moved online, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake. But all hope is not lost. Governments, schools, and other stakeholders are doing all they can to stamp out this vice.
But to show you the extent of cyberbullying today, here are some notable stats, facts, and trends making the headlines.
8 Key Cyberbullying Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- 32% of cyberbullied children in 2022 were harassed on social media platforms.
- 13% of children worldwide reported cyberbullying in 2022.
- 33% of Black teens in 2022 were unsatisfied with law enforcement efforts to curb cyberbullying.
- 48 US states had cyberbullying laws as of January 2021.
- 1 in 10 teens believed they were targeted for their gender in 2022.
- 46% of American teens experienced a form of cyberbullying in 2022.
- More children (50%) experienced cyberbullying on Facebook than on other social media.
- 65% of Indian children experienced cyberbullying on Facebook in 2022.
Infographic
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General Cyberbullying Stats
1. Cyberbullying comes in many forms.
Flaming, outing, trolling, and doxing are globally recognized forms of cyberbullying.
| Cyberbullying Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Flaming | Online arguments involving personal attacks. |
| Outing | This is where a victim’s sexual orientation is disclosed without consent. |
| Trolling | Instigating conflict deliberately via antagonistic messages. |
| Doxing | Publicly exposing someone’s private information without permission. |
| Catfishing | Assuming the identity of the victim to hurt the reputation they may have online. |
| Others | Name-calling, spreading false rumors, sending explicit images, cyberstalking, and exclusion. |
2. Name-calling, false rumors, and exclusion were the top 3 forms of cyberbullying in 2022.
Globally, name-calling accounted for 40% of cyberbullying in 2022.
This was followed by exclusion from groups (36%) and spreading of false rumors (28%).
1 in 3 children who faced cyberbullying globally in 2022 deleted their social media to avoid it. India had the highest deletions among 58% of children, followed by Brazil (38%) and the United States (37%).
4. 57% of cyberbullied children in 2022 claimed it came from a known person.
Another 45% stated that a stranger harassed them.
| Country | Harassed by a Stranger | Harassed by a Familiar Person |
|---|---|---|
| India | 70% | 66% |
| Brazil | 51% | 67% |
| United States | 53% | 61% |
| United Kingdom | 24% | 58% |
| Australia | 36% | 56% |
Another 19% were cyberbullied through text messages, 24% through group chats, 22% on online gaming platforms, and another 21% through online forums.
Cyberbullying Vulnerability Statistics
6. Young Indian boys were more targeted by racial cyberbullying in 2022.
45% of boys aged between 10 and 14 in India were victims of racially-motivated cyberbullying in 2022. Conversely, 41% of girls in the same age range experienced the same.
7. 15-year-olds experienced cyberbullying more than other ages in 2021.
27.7% of cyberbullying victims were 15 years old. This was followed by 14-year-olds (27.2%), 13-year-olds (25.1%), 16-year-olds (20.2%), and 17-year-olds (16.2%).
8. Older teen girls in 2022 were likelier to face false online rumors than boys.
33% of teen girls aged 15 and 17 were subjected to false online rumors in the past.
They were also the most likely (20%, compared to 13% of boys) to be closely monitored by people who were not their parents.
9. Teens from poor households were twice likely to be threatened online in 2022.
16% of teens from households making less than $30,000 per annum reported being threatened online, compared to 8% of teens living in households that made $75,000 annually.
10. LGBTQ+ members were the most likely to be harassed online in 2021.
64% of the LGBTQ+ community reported different forms of online harassment due to their sexual orientation.
Cyberbullying Prevalence Statistics
11. 13% of children worldwide reported cyberbullying in 2022.
28% of all the global reports came from India, while 20% came from the United States.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyberbullying-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-global-reports.png" alt="Cyberbullying Global Reports" width="768" border="0" height="907.52" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-global-reports-768x907.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-global-reports-254x300.png 254w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-global-reports-867x1024.png 867w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-global-reports.png 1200w" sizes="auto"></a>
12. 28% of children in 2022 suffered racially-motivated cyberbullying.
This was prominent in the United States (34% of children) and India (42%).
Other notable countries included the United Kingdom (19%), France (17%), Japan (16%), and Mexico (14%).
13. 15% of children around the world reported online sexual harassment in 2022.
India had the highest prevalence at 30%, followed by the United States (19%) and Canada (14%).
14. Japan had the lowest reported figures for online sexual harassment in 2022.
Only 6% of Japanese children reported sexual harassment in 2022.
The United Kingdom followed at 7%.
15. In 2022, 19% of children worldwide admitted to cyberbullying other kids.
49% of children from India admitted to participating in different forms of cyberbullying against others, making it the highest in the world. This was followed by the United States (22%), Germany (17%), France (16%), and Australia (15%).
Cyberbullying Prevention Statistics
16. 80% of parents sought to educate themselves on cyberbullying in 2022.
Of these, 54% of parents discussed with their children about the people they communicated with. Another 35% discussed their child(ren)’s experiences, while 23% only had such discussions when it naturally came up.
17. Dialogue with parents was the most employed form of support against cyberbullying in 2022.
64% of parents globally used dialogue to deal with the effects of cyberbullying on their children. 61% monitored their children’s devices to spot and deal with cyberbullying as it happened. Other solutions explored included therapy, changing schools, and working with school staff.
| Cyberbullying Solution | Percentage of Parents Using It |
|---|---|
| Dialogue | 64% |
| Device monitoring | 61% |
| Speaking to school officials | 39% |
| Working with counselors | 22% |
| Therapy | 18% |
| Changing schools | 11% |
| Other | 2% |
18. Over 4 in 5 teens felt elected officials were not doing enough to deal with cyberbullying in 2022.
Parents received favorable ratings (66%) as the group that tried the most to handle cyberbullying.
19. 50% of cyberbullied teens in 2022 believed that banning cyberbullies reduced online harassment.
Other potential solutions included criminal charges against cyberbullies, platforms deleting harassing content, and forcing users to use their real names and images.
20. 33% of Black teens in 2022 were unsatisfied with law enforcement efforts to curb cyberbullying.
This was higher than White teens (21%) and Hispanic teens (25%) that felt the same way.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyberbullying-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens.png" alt="Cyberbullying Prevention Among Teens" width="768" border="0" height="1324.6177739431" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens-768x1325.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens-174x300.png 174w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens-594x1024.png 594w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens-891x1536.png 891w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-prevention-among-teens.png 1159w" sizes="auto"></a>
21. Most parents and teachers accepted student surveillance as a deterrent against cyberbullying in 2021.
Tracking student logins, monitoring and flagging keyword searches, and taking control of a student’s input functionality were some of the suggested solutions agreed upon by parents and teachers.
22. 48 US states had cyberbullying laws as of January 2021.
44 of these states created laws that included criminal charges and sanctions against cyberbullies. Likewise, 45 states had laws specifically to deal with cyberbullying in schools.
Cyberbullying Demographic Statistics
23. 41% of adult internet users had experienced online harassment as of 2021.
Offensive name-calling was the most common form of online harassment experienced by 35% of the respondents.
| Type of Cyberbullying | Share of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Name-calling | 35% |
| Deliberate embarrassment | 26% |
| Physical threats | 18% |
| Sexual harassment | 12% |
| Stalking | 13% |
| Sustained harassment | 12% |
24. In 2021, 13-year-olds were the most notorious when it came to cyberbullying others.
6.2% of cyberbullies in 2021 were 13-year-olds. Other notable cyberbullying offending ages were 14 years (4%), 15 years (5.4%), 16 years (5.6%), and 17 years (3.7%).
25. Boys were more likely to cyberbully others than girls or transgender teens in 2021.
For teens aged between 13-17 years, boys were the most likely to engage in cyberbullying (5.6%) compared to girls (4.5%). Transgender teens were the least likely to harass others online, with only 3.6% of teens in this age group being cyberbullies.
26. Black teens were twice likely as other races to be targeted by cyberbullies in 2022.
21% of black teens believed cyberbullies targeted them due to their ethnicity.
Only 11% of Hispanic teens and 4% of White teens attributed their online harassment to their race.
27. 1 in 10 teens believed they were targeted for their gender in 2022.
Physical appearance accounted for 15% of the reasons in all bullying cases.
This was followed by gender (10%), race (9%), sexual orientation (5%), and political views (5%).
28. In 2022, 65% of urban-area teens viewed cyberbullying as a problem, more than suburban and rural teens.
Only about 51% of rural and 50% of suburban teens shared similar sentiments.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyberbullying-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem.png" alt="Cyberbullying Perception as a Problem" width="768" border="0" height="505.26315789474" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem-768x505.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem-300x197.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem-1024x674.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem-1536x1010.png 1536w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/cyberbullying-perception-as-a-problem.png 1824w" sizes="auto"></a>
29. 18-23-year-olds experienced cyberbullying more than other age groups in the US in 2021.
They accounted for 52% of online harassment experienced by victims in 2021.
Other notable age groups included 24-39 (51%), 40-55 (38%), 56-74 (27%), and 75+ (14%).
Cyberbullying in School Statistics
30. 22,000 cyberbullying cases were reported in Japanese schools in 2021.
Thus, marking the seventh year of cyberbullying incident increase in the country.
31. Japanese private high schools reported the highest cases of cyberbullying in Japan in 2021.
There were 728 cases of cyberbullying in private schools in Japan in 2021.
448 cases were reported in private high schools, and the other 280 in private middle schools.
32. By school level, Japanese middle schoolers experienced 9,800 cyberbullying incidents in 2021.
This was the highest share across the total 21,900 cases in the year.
33. 27.1% of elementary school students in South Korea experienced cyber violence in 2021.
This was followed by middle school (22.9%) and high school (20.1%) students reporting the same.
34. In 2021, verbal abuse was the most prevalent form of cyberbullying (12%) in South Korean schools.
It was followed by reputational damage at 4.2%.
35. Cyberbullying was higher among lower-grade students in Norway in 2022.
7th graders in Norwegian schools were involved in cyberbullying more than any other grade in 2022. Female students also experienced more cyberbullying than male students. However, online harassment reduced among upper secondary school students.
Cyberbullying Statistics by Country
36. In 2021, 31.7% of non-heterosexual teens in the US experienced cyberbullying.
As of June 2021, 20.8% of heterosexual youth also experienced cyberbullying in the US.
37. 35.4% of transgender teens experienced cyberbullying in the US in 2021.
This was higher than the number of girls (23.7%) and boys (21.9%) who stated they had been cyberbullied in the same period.
Likewise, 49% of Indian children shared the same thought.
39. 46% of American teens experienced a form of cyberbullying in 2022.
This was established in a survey of teenagers aged 13 and 17.
Name-calling accounted for 32% of cyberbullying incidents.
| Cyberbullying Type | US Teens Who Experienced It |
|---|---|
| Name-calling | 32% |
| Spreading false rumors | 22% |
| Receiving explicit images/messages | 17% |
| Intrusive questions | 15% |
| Physical threats | 10% |
| Having their explicit images shared without their consent. | 7% |
40. Name-calling was the most common cyberbullying form experienced by Polish children in 2022.
Likewise, every 1 in 4 children in Poland was humiliated or ridiculed online.
41. 51% of UK online abuse victims as of 2022 experienced cyberbullying.
36% were trolled, and 33% had been cyberstalked before, behind the 45% who suffered harassment.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyberbullying-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence.png" alt="UK Online Abuse Prevalence" width="768" border="0" height="994.56" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence-768x994.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence-232x300.png 232w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence-791x1024.png 791w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence-1186x1536.png 1186w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/uk-online-abuse-prevalence.png 1200w" sizes="auto"></a>
42. In 2021, 49% of harassed Americans believed it was due to their political views.
Another 33% attributed it to their physical appearance, 28% to their gender and race, and 21% to religion.
43. A 2021 survey found that 23% of online harassment victims in the US struggled with sleep.
Another 18% contacted the platform they were harassed on to address the issue.
16% of victims made personal choices like relocating, changing their commute, and taking self-defense classes. 11% started getting suicidal thoughts, while 8% contacted the police.
Cyberbullying Statistics by Social Media
44. 75% of online harassed Americans surveyed in 2021 got cyberbullied on Facebook.
Twitter and Instagram tied in second with 24% each.
Likewise, 53% of children witnessed cyberbullying on Facebook in 2022.
| Social Media Platforms | Kids That Witnessed Cyberbullying | Kids That Experienced Cyberbullying |
|---|---|---|
| 53% | 50% | |
| 40% | 30% | |
| YouTube | 31% | 27% |
| TikTok | 30% | 23% |
| 20% | 18% |
46. Facebook took down over 9.2 million posts harassing others in Q3 2021.
Another 7.8 million posts harassing people were taken down on Instagram, where users reported seeing hate speech twice for every 10,000 content views.
47. 65% of Indian children experienced cyberbullying on Facebook in 2022.
That was the most across all surveyed countries, with another 65% of Indian children witnessing cyberbullying on Facebook. The United States (62% witnessing vs. 59% experiencing), Mexico (65% vs. 51%), Germany (39% vs. 35%), and the UK (36% vs. 40%) followed.
48. 36% of children were cyberbullied on Instagram in 2022.
Likewise, 39% of them witnessed someone else being bullied on the social media platform. India (57%), Brazil (49%), and Canada (35%) experienced the highest levels of Instagram cyberbullying in 2022.
49. 40% of children in 2022 experienced cyberbullying on WhatsApp.
This made it the platform where most children experienced cyberbullying, followed by Facebook Messenger (28%), Snapchat (23%), and Discord (11%).
Cyberbullying Impact Statistics
50. Alyssa Funke committed suicide in 2014 due to cyberbullying.
She was a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls at the time.
She committed suicide due to online harassment after it emerged that she had been in an adult video.
51. Tyler Clementi jumped to death in 2010 after his intimate moments were leaked online.
A freshman at Rutgers University, Tyler took his own life when his roommate recorded and leaked the intimate moment he had with another male companion.
Workplace Cyberbullying Statistics
52. 43% of remote workers in the US experienced cyberbullying in 2021.
Colleagues and bosses cyberbullied them. Conversely, only 17.4% of hybrid workers experienced work-related harassment, while only 20.6% of non-remote workers claimed to have been bullied.
53. In 2021, 35% of remote worker cyberbullying in America occurred during virtual group meetings.
Another 15% happened in private virtual meetings, 6% through group emails, and 3% through private emails.
54. 9% of remote workplace bullying in 2021 happened through emails.
This breaks down into 6% happening through group emails and another 3% through private channels involving two people.
Dealing With Cyberbullying
If you’ve been a victim of cyberbullying, you can try the following to help yourself.
<a href="https://vpnalert.com/resources/cyberbullying-statistics/" target="_blank" data-wpel-link="internal"><img src="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tips-for-dealing-with-cyberbullying.png" alt="Tips for Dealing With Cyberbullying" width="768" border="0" height="747.44525547445" loading="lazy" fetchpriority="low" srcset="https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tips-for-dealing-with-cyberbullying-768x747.png 768w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tips-for-dealing-with-cyberbullying-300x292.png 300w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tips-for-dealing-with-cyberbullying-1024x996.png 1024w, https://vpnalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/tips-for-dealing-with-cyberbullying.png 1233w" sizes="auto"></a>
- Open up to someone you can trust about the experiences you’ve been going through. This could be a counselor, a friend, a teacher, or a parent.
- Always preserve evidence of cyberbullying. Keep screenshots of explicit images, messages, and posts sent to you without consent. This makes it easy to bring criminal charges against perpetrators.
- Block anyone harassing you online. This can be done across all social media sites and chat apps.
- Report any form of cyberbullying immediately. Most social media sites and chat apps provide users with contact lines where they can report online harassment. This could lead to the perpetrator losing their accounts.
- Seek professional help when things get out of hand. Going into therapy or counseling groups for victims of cyberbullying can help you get over the trauma.
Final Word
No one is immune to cyberbullying, and it affects people of all ages and backgrounds. We can work together to prevent this harmful behavior and create a safer online community by staying informed about the latest statistics, facts, and trends.
Check out our detailed guide on how to keep children safe online and counter cyberbullying.
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