Police-reported online child sexual exploitation: Recent trends

Release date: March 10, 2026
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Infographic: Police-reported online child sexual exploitation: Recent trends
Description: Police-reported online child sexual exploitation: Recent trends

Online child sexual exploitation includes online sexual offences against children, such as luring and invitation to sexual touching, and online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences.

In 2024, 223 online child sexual exploitation incidents per 100,000 children and youth aged 17 and younger were reported by police.

This rate was almost triple the rate in 2018 (77) and more than quadruple the rate in 2014 (50)

77%: Over three-quarters of these incidents were online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences

Police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents, Canada, 2014 to 2024 Table summary
The information is grouped by Year (appearing as row headers), , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
Year Rate per 100,000 population aged 17 years and younger
2014 49.9
2015 58.6
2016 88.1
2017 82.5
2018 76.9
2019 103.8
2020 135.6
2021 136.9
2022 164.3
2023 266.5
2024 223.0

In 2024…

78%: Almost 4 in 5 victims of police-reported online sexual offences against children were girls

Close to 2 in 5 (38%) persons accused of committing an online child sexual exploitation offence were youth aged 12 to 17

14: Median age of persons accused of non-consensual distribution of intimate images

From 2023 to 2024…

-26%: Decrease in the rate of online child sexual abuse and exploitation material offences reported by police

+43%: Increase in the rate of online sexual offences against children reported by police, driven by a sharp increase in the rate of luring offences (+65%)

Source: Savage, L., 2026, “Online child sexual exploitation: A statistical profile of police-reported incidents in Canada, 2024,” Juristat, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X.

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Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2026

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