Almost One Child In Six Is Cyberbullied: WHO Europe

Some 16 percent of children aged 11 to 15 were cyberbullied in 2022, up from 13 percent four years ago, a WHO Europe report covering 44 countries said on Wednesday.

"This report is a wake-up call for all of us to address bullying and violence, whenever and wherever it happens," WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.

Fifteen percent of boys and 16 percent of girls reported being cyberbullied at least once in recent months, according to the study, entitled "Health Behaviour in School-aged Children".

The UN agency noted that the pandemic has changed the way adolescents behave towards each other.

"Virtual forms of peer violence have become particularly relevant since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, when young people's worlds became increasingly virtual during times of lockdown," the report said.

Other bullying has remained largely stable with just a slight increase.

"With young people spending up to six hours online every single day, even small changes in the rates of bullying and violence can have profound implications for the health and well-being of thousands," Kluge said.

The study was based on data from 279,000 children and adolescents from 44 countries across Europe, Central Asia and Canada.

Noting that the problem was widespread, the report called for greater efforts to improve awareness.

"More investment in the monitoring of different forms of peer violence is needed," it said.

"There is also an urgent need to educate young people, families and schools of the forms of cyberbullying and its implications, while regulating social media platforms to limit exposures to cyberbullying," it concluded.

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