Evidence Library
Comprehensive data charts, academic papers, and statistical analysis on the impact of social media on children and adolescents.
Awareness of Online Applicability of the Fundamental Rights
Awareness of the fact that fundamental rights also apply online is currently in decline across the European Union. Only 59% of citizens are aware of their digital legal standing.
Child Sexual Abuse Material Victim Demographics: Age Distribution (2023-2024)
In 2024, 93.24% of CSAM victims were pre-pubescent (ages 3-13), up from 90% in 2023, continuing to represent the vast majority of cases. Pubescent victims (ages 14-17) decreased to 6.59%, down from 10% in 2023, showing a notable decline. Infant and toddler victims (under 3 years old) accounted for 0.17%, a slight drop from 0.34% earlier in the year. These trends underscore the continued predominance of pre-pubescent victims.
Civic & Political Participation: Youth vs. General Population (2025)
The 2025 Eurostat data reveal that the internet has become a vital infrastructure for youth democratic engagement, with 24.33% of EU youth using digital platforms for civic or political participation, outpacing the general population by 4 percentage points. This gap is widest in Slovenia, where nearly half (49.4%) of all young people utilise the internet for political expression (only 33% of the general population do it). Youth high participation rates are found also in Latvia (33%) and Netherlands (36%).
Concerns about safety of children when using social media NEW
This chart illustrates public concerns in the European Union about the safety of children on social media, as revealed by a 2026 FRA survey of over 26,000 individuals. The data reveal an overwhelming consensus on digital risks, with concern levels exceeding 80% for all eight monitored categories. The most acute anxieties are tied to encountering violent content and predatory exploitation, both of which reach a peak concern level of 89% (54% are "very concerned"). Concerns about excessive usage and data exploitation both rank nearly as high at 88%, directly mirroring ongoing policy debates about addictive design and privacy issues. Even the category with the lowest reported level of concern (for example, the exposure to conspiracy theories) still affects 80% of the population.
Cyberbullying Prevalence (2022)
The chart shows the percentages of children experiencing cyberbullying, in 2022, in 22 European Union members with the prevalence of children experiencing cyberbullying ranging from 5% in Spain to a high of 23% in Lithuania. A clear regional trend emerges: Southern European nations, including Portugal (7%) and Italy (8%), report significantly lower rates of cyberbullying, while the Baltic and Eastern European states, most notably Lithuania (23%), Poland (21.5%), and Latvia (21.5%), report the highest levels.
Cyberbullying Prevalence by Gender (2022)
This chart shows the percentage of children experiencing cyberbullying by gender in 2022 across 22 European Union member states. The data shows that digital harassment risks vary significantly by gender and national context.
Daily Active Social Media Use: 15-Year-Olds (2022)
This chart shows the distribution of time spent on active social media activities, such as messaging, posting content, or sharing media, by 15-year-olds on a typical weekday. The data reveal that active participation remains a dominant behaviour for the vast majority of youth, with 84% of adolescents reporting daily active usage.
Daily Active Social Media Use: 15-Year-Olds by Gender (2022)
This chart shows the distribution of time spent on active social media activities, such as messaging and posting content, by 15-year-olds on a typical weekday, by gender. Active digital participation is a near-universal behaviour for both genders, with 87% of males and 82% of females engaging in active social media use daily. Notably, a higher percentage of females (18%) report no active usage compared to their male counterparts (13%).
Daily Internet Access of General Population and Youth (16 to 29 Years Old) (2025)
Daily internet connectivity has become a universal constant for European youth, with the 16–29 age group maintaining near-total saturation (97.67% EU average). While total population access varies significantly, the youth demographic remains consistently above 91% across all 37 measured territories. This creates a dramatic generational "Access Gap" in countries like Croatia (+16pp), Bulgaria (+15pp), and Poland (+14pp), where young people are disproportionately more connected than the general public.
Daily Passive Social Media Use: 15-Year-Olds (2022)
This chart shows the distribution of time spent on passive social media activities, such as scrolling through feeds or browsing content, by 15-year-olds on a typical weekday. The data reveal that passive engagement is a near-universal habit for this demographic, with only 6% of adolescents reporting no usage at all. The majority of students fall into the moderate-to-heavy usage categories, with 39% spending between one and three hours daily on these platforms. 37% of 15-year-olds spend more than three hours per day engaged in passive scrolling. 94% of 15-year-olds are daily participants in passive digital consumption.