Unfortunately, bullying is not something that is the exception. There are some scary bullying statistics out there.
Statistics for bullying vary the world over, and no country is the same. Some statistics for bullying are shown below, compiled from various sources. I have done a previous presentation about bullying, and there are some statistics over there, but as it was part of a more general presentation, I felt that an article speaking only to statistics will provide some insight about the state of bullying in schools in partcular.
The numbers are frightening
- Approximately 20% (that is 1 in 5) of children ages 12-18 report being bullied. This figure is only what is reported – not the real number, as lots of victims prefer not to report bullying, as they fear it will make matters worse.
- According to the US government bullying resource site, Those who reported bullying indicated some aspects that are concerning:
- 55% said their bullies could influence others’ perception of them.
- 50% said that their bullies had more social influence than them.
- 41% said that their bullies were physically stronger or more intimidating.
- 32% said that their bullies were richer than they were.
- The places where students are bullied most in schools are reported as:
- Halls or stairs – 44%
- Classrooms – 42%
- Cafeteria or canteen – 27%
- On the school grounds – 21%
- Cyber bullying (for example, SMS and social media) – 21% – but this figure is rising drastically year-on-year
- Bathrooms – 11%
- Less than 45% of bullying victims surveyed about bullying reported bullying incidents at the time it happened. This means that the statistics above of 1 in 5 is probably closer to 1 in 2. It is shocking.
- More male students are reporting physical bullying than female students (9% vs. 7%) and female students are more victims of rumours than males (18% vs. 9%).
- More than 40% of all bullying victims are bullied more than once a week, and fear daily that the bullying could happen at any time.
- Children 9-12 years old report 48% bullying at school and 15% online (by SMS or social media).
- Only 1% of children between 9 and 12 years old reported online bullying, as reported by pacer.org. These children usually deal with the fallout of bullying all alone. I am highlighting this statistic very prominently. If there is one thing every parent, teacher or adult responsible for children should do, is be on the lookout for cyber bullying.
Conclusion
This is but a subset of statistics. There are many other statistics that can be extracted from national databases and independent surveys, but it makes for very sad reading. This article is not to make people despondent, hence I am not going deeper into this right now – I am merely trying to make people aware of the severity of the problem.
