Sensitive content
This site contains sensitive content that includes references to sexual violence.
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Australia
Bangladesh
Brazil
Burkina Faso
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
China
Colombia
Cote d'Ivoire
Dem. Rep. of Congo
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El Salvador
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Germany
Ghana
Guatemala
India
Indonesia
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Madagascar
Malaysia
Mexico
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Mozambique
Nepal
Niger
Nigeria
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Peru
Philippines
Romania
Russia
Rwanda
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Serbia
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Tanzania
Thailand
Türkiye
UAE
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Country
United Kingdom
Scores
78.0/100
Overall
75.3/100
Governance and accountability
80.0/100
Prevention
65.0/100
Healing
82.4/100
Justice
Europe & Central Asia
1st
Overall
2nd
Governance and accountability
1st
Prevention
6th
Healing
1st
Justice
Ending Violence Against Children pledging process
1st
Overall
1st
Governance and accountability
2nd
Prevention
15th
Healing
1st
Justice
Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.
G20
2nd
Overall
3rd
Governance and accountability
1st
Prevention
10th
Healing
2nd
Justice
Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.
G7
1st
Overall
2nd
Governance and accountability
1st
Prevention
4th
Healing
1st
Justice
Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.
Background indicators
- GDP per capita
- 52636.79
- Level of poverty
- 18.6
- Gini coefficient
- 32.4
- Rule of Law Index
- 0.78
- Gender Inequality Index (GII)
- 0.08
- Women in parliament
- 40.5
- Gender gap in educational attainment
- 1.0
- LGBTQ Equality Index
- 69.0
- Birth registration
- 100.0
- Internet penetration rate
- 96.3
- Online child sexual abuse
- 19.9
The United Kingdom ranks 2nd out of 60 countries globally
- 1st
- within Europe and Central Asia
- out of 12 countries
- 2nd
- in its high income classification
- out of 14 countries
- 14.4
- million children in the U.K.
- represents 11% of the region's total population under the age of 18
The UK has made important progress and is well-placed to continue to strengthen its response. With sustained investment and action, it can continue to be a global leader in protecting children and adolescents from sexual violence.
Progress through data, policy, and investment
In 2021, the Home Office established the first ever Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy for England and Wales. Similarly, Scotland published Equally Safe: Scotland’s Strategy for Preventing and Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls in 2023.
The UK demonstrates leadership in elevating the voices of survivor advocates to advise the government on matters related to sexual violence against children. The country also shows leadership in child and youth engagement, operating a Youth Parliament since 1999, which works on issues related to child protection and violence. In 2025, a Youth Select Committee within the Youth Parliament published a report on its first-ever enquiry into social media and violence.
At the first-ever Global Ministerial on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogotá, Colombia, in November, 2024, the UK pledged to address sexual violence against children in schools and alternative care settings and online. Specifically, the country committed to establishing a Ministerial-level taskforce to promote safe learning and to act to address the increasing threats of AI-generated child sexual abuse material. In March 2026, the 2025 Crime and Policing Bill was advancing through Parliamentary processes. The UK’s pledges further reaffirmed the country’s goal of cutting violence against women and girls by half by 2034.
Among G7 countries, the UK scored highest on Brave Movement’s 2025 G7 scorecard. It is one of the few G7 countries that has eliminated the criminal statutes of limitations for sexual violence against children and leads the group of nations in online safety reforms.
In 2022, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) hosted the second-ever international Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PVSI) Conference in London. During the conference, Together for Girls and the Brave Movement, alongside the FCDO and other civil society partners, co-created a session highlighting the crucial role of education in protecting children, supporting survivors and preventing sexual violence in conflict.
While the Index tracks whether laws and policies are in place, it does not capture the quality or reach of their implementation.
What remains: Closing the gaps in protection
Leadership comes with responsibility. Closing these gaps will require action like:
Leadership comes with responsibility. Closing these gaps will require action like:
- Setting the legal age of sexual consent at 18 with a close in age exemption
- Banning corporal punishment of children and adolescents in all settings
- Establishing mandatory medical provider training on identifying and responding to sexual violence against children
- Putting in place full extraterritoriality and extradition provisions for cross-border prosecution of sexual exploitation of children crimes
- Establishing government-funded legal aid for all victims and survivors of sexual violence by creating a right to formal legal support from an attorney, specially trained support person or court-appointed guardian to uphold the child's best interest during court proceedings.
- Adding a clear definition of grooming of children for sexual purposes to the laws criminalizing it
- Ensuring availability of medical services for victims and survivors of childhood sexual violence in all districts
- Expanding integrated service delivery for health, psychosocial, legal, and justice service
- Fully establishing a government-supported national survivor council
- Ratifying key international instruments for child protection
- Adding specificity to the national action plan such as: clearly defined prevention and response activities for child sexual sexual violence, roles and responsibilities, and costs
- Facilitate cross-border prosecution of sexual violence against children through extraterritoriality and extradition provisions
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Share your storyData driving change
Third Richest Nation
www.bravemovement.org/campaigns/third-richest-nation
A world without childhood violence would be $7 trillion richer. This nation isn’t real. Its wealth could be. Brave Movement's survivor-led advocacy campaign at the G20 in 2025 pressured decision makers to invest in prevention, healing and justice to create stronger, happier nations.
#BeBrave G7 Scorecard 2025
www.bravemovement.org/g7
By evaluating each G7 nation’s progress on vital policy measures we're drawing global attention to the global, silent pandemic of sexual violence against children. This is a crisis that undermines the G7's commitment to building secure, prosperous, and equitable societies. Kids need bold leadership and decisive action now to be safe and thrive.
Break the record
www.togetherforgirls.org/en/press/a-record-breaking-event-now-governments-must-deliver
We broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the most countries represented at a childhood violence summit! With 120 governments attending, this first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children was the largest organized event to address this issue on a global scale. Most importantly, as a result, we also broke the world’s record of inaction against childhood sexual violence.