A total of 3,630 child abuse cases were reported across Pakistan in 2025, according to new figures released by Sahil, which monitors violence against children and women.
In a statement issued on Monday, the organisation said the cases had been reported in 81 different newspapers from across the four provinces, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Sahil said the total represented an 8% increase, or 266 more cases, compared with 2024.
Its data showed that girls accounted for 1,924 cases, or 53% of victims, while boys made up 1,625 cases, or 47%. Another 116 cases involved newborn babies.
The organisation said the figures meant that more than nine children were abused every day on average during 2025.
Abduction was the most commonly reported category, with 1,107 cases, followed by sodomy with 596 cases and rape with 522. Other reported categories included 365 cases of missing children, 195 cases of attempted rape, 141 cases of attempted sodomy, 130 cases of gang sodomy, 108 cases of gang rape, 58 cases of murder after sexual abuse, and 53 cases of child marriage.
According to the report, children aged between 11 and 15 were the most vulnerable to abuse, with more boys than girls affected in that age group.
Sahil said acquaintances remained the category most commonly involved in child sexual abuse cases.
Punjab accounted for 73% of the total reported child abuse cases, followed by Sindh with 21%, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 4%, and 2% from Balochistan, federal areas, AJK and GB combined.
The organisation also said 82% of the reported child abuse cases were registered with police, calling it a positive sign of active policing.
Sahil also released figures on violence against women, saying it had monitored such cases for the past two years.
It said 7,071 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) were reported across the country in 2025, covering categories including murder, suicide, abduction, rape, honour killing and torture. The total also included a small number of cases involving transgender people.
According to Sahil, the 2025 figures showed a 34% rise in GBV cases.
The largest category was murder, with 1,546 cases, followed by 1,345 abductions and 1,169 cases of torture. There were also 877 reported rape cases, 680 suicides, 449 cases of injury, 316 cases of harassment, 284 honour killings and 41 acid attacks.
The data showed that 32% of abusers in GBV cases were acquaintances, 18% were strangers, and 12% were husbands, while in 20% of cases, the abuser was not mentioned.
Punjab accounted for 78% of the total GBV cases reported in 2025, followed by Sindh with 14%, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 6%, and 2% from Balochistan, ICT, AJK and GB combined.
News Published in Express Tribune on March 16th, 2026
