Where Cyberbullying Is Most Prevalent

Even though young people generally seem happy with social media these days, whether it's chatting on WhatsApp or posting photos on Instagram, the internet has a dark side. Today, children and teenagers have to cope with bullying online as well as in the schoolyard. Cyberbullying is a major problem, especially because the perpetrators are able to remain anonymous. Considering just how ubiquitous smartphones and social media have become among teenagers, just how common is cyberbullying today? Ipsos conducted a poll among parents in 28 countries to find out if their children had encountered it.

The research found that nearly one in five parents around the world say their child has experienced cyberbullying at least once in 2018. The highest instances of the problem were recorded in India where 37 percent of parents said their child had encountered it. Out of that total, 14 percent said that the problem occurs on a regular basis. The problem is also relatively common in the United States where 27 percent of parents said their child had experienced it, a figure that's up on 15 percent in 2011.

In Europe, things are a bit more mixed with 17 percent of parents in the UK confirming it. Elsewhere, 14 percent of Italian parents said their children had experienced it, along with 9 percent in both Spain and France. Interestingly, the research found that cyberbullying isn't an issue in Russia with 0 percent of the parents polled there saying their children had experienced it.