Case numbers for sexual offenses against children and adolescents in Germany showed increases across many areas in 2025, according to a new national situation report. This report was presented on Tuesday in Berlin by Federal Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), BKA President Holger Münch, and the Independent Federal Commissioner against Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents, Kerstin Claus.
An increasing number of offenses are now carried out online. This includes crimes involving juvenile pornographic content and non-contact sexual abuse of children. For instance, incidents of sexual abuse against children without physical contact rose by 16.5 percent in 2025, reaching 4,861 cases. The increased use of the internet has fueled digital phenomena such as cybergrooming, livestreaming, and sextortion. Furthermore, advancements in AI technology present new or easier ways to commit crimes, allowing real content to be altered without specialized knowledge or new content to be artificially generated.
While crimes linked to child pornographic content decreased in 2025, the figure remained high at 41,677 cases (a 2.7 percent drop). Conversely, offenses connected to juvenile pornographic content reached a new peak in 2025, totaling 11,515 cases (a 19.9 percent increase). Roughly half of the suspects in each category were minors. They are frequently linked to the “self-filming” phenomenon and carelessly share child and juvenile pornographic materials. Therefore, educating and promoting media literacy among children and adolescents, as well as parents, teachers, and professionals, is crucial in addressing this trend.
Dobrindt stated that the high case numbers demonstrated the need for better protection of children, especially in the digital sphere. He emphasized that “offenders must not feel safe in the anonymity of the internet.” He called for effective tools, such as the retention of IP addresses, to identify perpetrators and end the abuse. Holger Münch highlighted that the NCMEC had transmitted over 100,000 criminal intelligence leads to the BKA. Dobrindt welcomed the EU’s efforts to close loopholes in the detection and reporting of child and juvenile pornographic material.
Claus pointed out that the national report cannot accurately reflect the true extent of sexual violence online. She noted the dramatic rise of “sextortion” and that cybergrooming affects almost every third youth between the ages of 14 and 17. She demanded that cybergrooming be criminalized and that sextortion be classified as its own sexual offense.
