Cases of sexual abuse against minors in Germany rose again last year. with a particularly steep increase in offenses involving youth pornographic content. According to the "Federal Situation Report on Sexual Offenses to the Detriment of Children and Adolescents," presented on Tuesday, crimes committed online and the use of AI are playing an ever-larger role.
"Digital sexualized violence is an everyday reality for young people girls and boys alike," said Kerstin Claus, Germany's Independent Federal Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues.
There has been "in some respects a dramatic increase" in the figures on sexual offenses against children and adolescents, said Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) at the presentation of the situation report. The number of cases rose in many areas in 2025. The report recorded a particularly sharp year-on-year increase of 19.9 percent in offenses connected to youth pornographic content. Between 2021 and 2025, such cases more than doubled, from 5,000 to over 11,500.
Offenses are "increasingly shifting into the digital space," emphasized BKA President Holger Münch. This concerns in particular abuse without physical contact, such as so-called cybergrooming, the targeted approach of minors online with sexual intent, or the phenomenon of livestreaming, in which perpetrators watch the abuse of children or adolescents via livestream. A "hotspot" for this is the Philippines, Münch said.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is also playing an increasingly significant role in abuse. "Child and youth pornographic content can be created from harmless images, even without much technical knowledge," the BKA president said.
"This makes clear that we are dealing with a growing, rising phenomenon that we must confront unequivocally," Dobrindt said. The interior minister pointed to new AI-based capabilities for analyzing image material. The retention of IP addresses, he added, also makes it possible to trace perpetrators.
A corresponding change in the law is already going through parliament and is expected to be passed by the Bundestag in the autumn. Dobrindt also stressed the need for stronger international cooperation in combating abuse and called for the creation of a European-level abuse commissioner.
Germany's Independent Federal Commissioner for Child Sexual Abuse Issues, Kerstin Claus, said the situation report "cannot come even close to capturing the actual scale of the sexual violence that young people are exposed to online every day." The figures do not show "just how much young people are targeted by perpetrators, particularly online," Claus said.
Adolescents become victims of cyber-grooming, sexual extortion, or organized sexual exploitation through social media and online games. This reality, too, is not reflected in the current situation report, "either because the acts are not captured under sexual criminal law, or because they are not legally prohibited." Cyber-grooming, for instance, has so far only been a punishable offense when it affects a child.
According to the situation report, 17,126 cases of sexual abuse of children were registered in Germany in 2025, 4.7 percent more than the year before. Abuse cases involving adolescents rose by 4.0 percent to 1,239 cases. Both categories had seen a slight decline in 2024, but the new figures also exceeded the levels recorded in 2023. A clear majority of victims were female.
Suspects were predominantly men acting alone. In more than half of cases, a prior relationship existed between victims and suspects. By contrast, cases involving child pornography content declined. Here, most suspects were minors.
Alexander Poitz, deputy national chairman of the police union GdP (Gewerkschaft der Polizei), called for a fundamental modernization of the police and justice system in the fight against sexualized violence against children and adolescents. External specialists, such as IT experts, are also needed, Poitz told broadcasters RTL and ntv.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
