Evidence Library
Comprehensive data charts, academic papers, and statistical analysis on the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
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Mandatory collection of personal information on websites and apps, stating that they do not knowingly collect children’s personal information (2025)
This chart illustrates the discrepancy between platform privacy policies and actual data collection practices, as revealed by the 2025 Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) Sweep. The study involved 27 global privacy authorities, including those from the UK and Canada, who replicated the user experience across 876 websites and apps that are popular with children. The data focuses specifically on the 54% of services that state in their policies that they 'do not knowingly collect children’s personal information', yet still require the disclosure of sensitive identifiers for account creation. A significant trend emerges in the identification gap: despite claiming to avoid collecting data on children, the majority of these platforms (62%) require an email address, and half (50%) require a username (often featuring the user's first and last name). Furthermore, 42% of these services still insist on a legal name and 15% require a phone number. These findings reveal a lack of transparency in the digital ecosystem. By using 'non-collection' statements as a legal shield while simultaneously mandating the collection of high-value personal data, these platforms leave young users vulnerable to tracking and profiling, without implementing the necessary child-specific protective controls.
Minimum ages in social media age restrictions in place or under consideration, by country as of 10 April 2026
This chart shows the age thresholds that are being adopted or debated in OECD member and accession candidate countries as of April 2026. The data reveal clear global convergence around two main 'digital majority' ages: 15 and 16. While Australia, Brazil and Indonesia have already moved into the enforcement phase with a 16-year-old limit, the vast majority of European nations, including Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, are currently debating this same threshold. A significant trend emerges in the clustering of European Member States. The largest group, comprising France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Nordic states, is coalescing around a 15-year age limit. A smaller group consisting of Austria and Canada is considering a 14-year threshold. In contrast, the United States presents a fragmented landscape, with proposals ranging from 13 to 16 years old.
Outcomes of Reporting Harmful Content Among 11-17-Year-Olds
This chart from the 2025 Ofcom Children’s Online Safety Tracker assesses the effectiveness of platform reporting mechanisms from the perspective of UK children (aged 11–17). It compares the period before and after the implementation of the UK Online Safety Act and Ofcom’s Children’s Codes. The data reveal a profound 'communication-action paradox': while platforms have significantly improved their procedural transparency, the rate of content removal has declined. There has been a significant shift towards 'process over outcome'. Following the introduction of the new safety duties, there was a more than twofold increase in the number of platforms informing children that 'they would look into it' (rising from 13% to 27%). Conversely, the percentage of reports where 'nothing has happened yet' fell sharply from 26% to 14%. However, this increase in communication coincided with a significant drop in content deactivation, falling from 41% to 27%.
People who participated in social networks (2025)
This chart, extracted from the Eurostat publication Young People in the Digital World in March 2026, illustrates active participation in social networks, defined as creating profiles, posting messages or sharing content. It compares individuals aged 16–29 with the total population in 2025. The data reveal that social networking has become the primary social infrastructure for European youth, with a European average participation rate of 89%, compared to 67% for the general population. A significant regional trend emerges in the 'social connectivity gap'. In several Member States, including Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Denmark, youth participation has reached near-total saturation (approaching 100%). Even in countries with the lowest relative engagement, such as Italy, youth participation (80%) is still 24 percentage points higher than that of the general population (56%). This trend is mirrored across the EEA and IPA countries, with youth engagement consistently exceeding 90% in territories such as Norway, Switzerland, and Montenegro.
People who used generative AI tools (2025)
This chart, extracted from the Eurostat publication 'Young people – digital world' in March 2026, illustrates the percentage of individuals who used generative AI tools in the last three months of 2025, comparing the youth demographic (aged 16–29) with the total population. The data reveal a significant 'generational AI divide', with the average for European youth (60%) being almost double that for the general population (32%). A significant regional trend emerges in the rapid adoption of AI across Southern and Eastern Europe. Greece leads the way with an impressive 82% of young people utilising generative AI, closely followed by Estonia (79%) and Portugal (74%). Even in countries with the lowest relative engagement, such as Romania (38%) and Italy (42%), the youth demographic is still far more active than the general public. This trend is also evident in the EEA, where Norway (78%) and Switzerland (76%) have some of the highest youth adoption rates in the dataset.
People who used the internet on a daily basis (2025)
This chart, extracted from the Eurostat publication Young People – Digital World in March 2026, illustrates the percentage of daily internet users in 2025, comparing the youth demographic (aged 16–29) with the total population. The data reveal that daily internet connectivity has reached near-total saturation among European youth, with usage reaching nearly 100% in almost every surveyed nation. A significant regional trend emerges in the 'generational digital gap'. In highly digitised nations such as the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark, daily usage is almost identical among young people and the general population. However, in Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as in IPA (candidate) countries, a significant divide remains. In countries such as Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania, young people are virtually 100% online daily, whereas the total population's daily usage remains significantly lower, typically ranging from 80% to 90%.
Percentage of 10-years old Having Their Own Smartphone by Socio-Economic Status, 2021
This data reveals an 'inverse digital divide', showing the varying rates of smartphone ownership among 10-year-olds across Europe. While nearly all 10-year-olds in Northern Europe own a smartphone regardless of background (e.g. over 95 per cent in Finland and Norway), a stark socioeconomic reversal emerges in Western and Southern Europe. In Ireland, Belgium, Spain and France, children from low-SES families are more than twice as likely to own a smartphone as those from high-SES families, whose parents may be more inclined to delay purchase. Conversely, Turkey remains an outlier, with the lowest overall penetration rate, and a traditional divide, whereby high-SES children have significantly greater access (41.8% versus 16.8%). This highlights that early smartphone use is influenced by both national norms and domestic management strategies.
Percentage of 11-year-olds who report problematic social media use
This table shows the percentage of 11-year-olds who experienced 'problematic' (addictive-like) social media use in 2022, broken down by the regions covered by the HBSC survey, including European member states, North America and Central Asia. The 2022 data reveal a significant 'early-onset addiction gap', with an average of 9% of children exhibiting at least six symptoms of digital dependency, such as withdrawal and loss of control, before entering their teens. A sharp regional divide emerges between Eastern and Western Europe: Romania (17–18%) and Bulgaria (14–16%) report the highest levels of early-stage problematic use, while the Netherlands (4–5%) and Switzerland (5%) have the lowest risk profiles in the dataset. Although the global average shows gender parity at 9%, striking gender disparities emerge in the United Kingdom and Mediterranean regions. In England and Malta, nearly one in five 11-year-old girls exhibits addictive behaviours, significantly higher than their male counterparts.
Percentage of 13-year-olds who report problematic social media use
This table shows the percentage of 13-year-olds who experienced 'problematic' (addictive-like) social media use in 2022 across the HBSC survey regions, which include European member states, North America and Central Asia. The 2022 data reveal a sharp increase in digital dependency among children entering their early teens, particularly among girls, where the average prevalence (16%) is almost double that among boys (9%). A pronounced regional risk cluster persists in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, with Romania (21–28%) and Malta (14–28%) reporting the highest levels of problematic use in the dataset. Unlike the 11-year-old cohort, striking gender disparities become the norm at age 13, particularly in Western and Southern Europe. In countries such as England, Ireland and Italy, girls are two to three times more likely than boys to exhibit addictive behaviours. Conversely, the Netherlands (5–8%) and Hungary (5–10%) continue to have the lowest risk profiles, suggesting that national digital cultures and domestic management strategies play a significant role in mitigating these symptoms during the "vulnerability window" of early adolescence.
Percentage of 15-Year-Old Students Using Digital Devices During a Typical Week by Type of Leisure Activity, 2022
This table shows the percentage of 15-year-olds in European countries who engage in various digital leisure and functional activities (namely: create or edit their own digital content, communicate and share digital content on social networks, play video-games, learn how to do something, look for practical information online, browse social networks, browse the Internet - excluding social networks - for fun). Social networking and leisure browsing dominate digital activity among EU 15-year-olds, with participation consistently exceeding 94% across all analysed countries. Content creation shows the greatest variance: countries such as Greece (80.1%) and Latvia (79.1%) significantly outperform the OECD average of 69%, in stark contrast to Ireland's lower rate of 55.4%. Furthermore, approximately 89% of students in Poland and Estonia use the internet for functional purposes, such as learning new skills or seeking practical information. This highlights a notable shift from passive consumption to active, goal-oriented engagement in Central and Southern Europe.