One in five older children in Philippines suffer online sexual abuse, study says

If the findings are scaled to the population, it could mean 2 million children were subjected to online sexual abuse in one year. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

One in five children aged between 12 and 17 were subjected to grave instances of online sexual abuse while using the internet in the Philippines in 2020, research suggests.

The study adds to concerns that the pandemic has heightened the vulnerability of children in the country, which was already considered a global centre of such abuse.