"Read this if…" you want to understand how common bullying is without mistaking a survey result, an official complaint count or a news headline for the whole picture.
Statistics can help schools and families recognise a problem that is easy to overlook. They can also mislead when different definitions, age groups and time periods are treated as though they measure the same thing.
There is no single percentage that describes bullying everywhere. The better question is: Who was asked, what were they asked about, and over what period?
Three useful figures, with their limits
32% in UNESCO's international compilation. UNESCO's Behind the Numbers report, published in 2019, drew on school-based surveys covering 144 countries and territories. It reported that approximately 32% of students had been bullied by peers at school at least once in the preceding month. This is an international historical estimate, not a current South African rate or a count of reported cases.
19% in a United States school survey. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 19% of high-school students reported being bullied on school property during the preceding 12 months. The age group, location and reporting period differ from UNESCO's measure. It would be misleading to present the two figures as competing estimates of the same thing.
15% in a WHO/Europe cyberbullying study. The 2024 WHO/Europe report, drawing on the 2021–2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study across 44 countries and regions, reported that 15% of adolescents had experienced cyberbullying. This finding concerns participating European and neighbouring jurisdictions; it does not establish South Africa's cyberbullying rate.
Each number answers a specific question about a defined population. Together, they show that bullying affects substantial numbers of young people. None tells us how many individual incidents occurred in a particular school this week.
Why official reports and anonymous surveys differ
A report logged by a school is an administrative record. A confidential questionnaire asks people what they have experienced, including incidents they never reported. Those are different sources of information.
Some young people may stay silent because they fear retaliation, doubt that adults will help, feel embarrassed, or do not recognise what happened as bullying. Others might answer questions differently because surveys use different definitions or recall periods.
It is therefore reasonable to suspect that complaint registers can miss harm. It is not sound to assume every survey rate is a proven minimum or to add an invented percentage for under-reporting.
For a school, no recorded complaints should prompt a question about whether reporting feels safe, rather than being treated as proof that bullying does not happen.
What the numbers cannot tell us
Bullying usually involves an imbalance of power and repeated aggression, or a strong likelihood of repetition. Surveys may use different wording to ask about these elements. Some studies include particular online experiences; others focus on events at school.
A percentage cannot explain the experience of an individual learner, establish a perpetrator's motives or predict what will happen next. Nor should an apparently low percentage be used to dismiss a disclosure.
The same caution applies to differences by gender. In some datasets, boys report more physical bullying and girls more relational forms, but all forms can affect any child. Averages should never become stereotypes about who needs help.
Places and patterns worth watching
South Africa's Department of Basic Education describes bullying in classrooms, corridors, toilets, buses, break areas and other places where learners interact. Online messages can extend the harm beyond the school day.
The useful question for a parent or educator is not merely where do most incidents happen? It is where does this particular child feel unsafe, and what opportunities exist for responsible adults to intervene?
Changes in attendance, sleep, schoolwork, friendships or mood may justify a gentle conversation. These are possible warning signs, not proof of bullying.
What better measurement looks like
A school or organisation can learn more by combining confidential opportunities to speak, a clear reporting route, incident records, follow-up with affected learners and periodic review of locations or times where problems recur.
Numbers need context. A rise in reports after a safer reporting process is introduced may mean more people are speaking up, not necessarily that more bullying has begun. Conversely, a fall in complaints does not automatically prove that an intervention worked.
Adults should ask whether reported incidents were addressed, whether people felt safer afterward, and whether retaliation occurred. Those questions are as important as a total count.
If these figures worry you
You do not need to wait for a national study to recognise what is happening nearby. If a child or colleague describes repeated targeting, record their account accurately and involve an appropriate school or workplace contact. If someone faces a serious threat, respond to that risk immediately, regardless of whether the conduct meets a survey definition of bullying.
Final thought
Bullying statistics are most useful when they make us ask better questions. They can reveal patterns and support prevention, but people should never have to become a number before being heard.