Economical Impact of Child Exploitation

The familial cycles of child exploitation and its economical impact are undeniable. We must look at the scope of the child exploitation statistics and the human and social impacts to fully understand the long-term implications. When we ignore our most vulnerable children, we enable the reactive destruction of our communities. ​

$210,012 per Victim

The financial costs for victims and society are substantial. A CDC study, The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment in the United States and Implications for Prevention, found that the estimated average lifetime cost per victim of nonfatal child maltreatment was $210,012 (in 2010 dollars). With a total lifetime estimated financial expense of approximately 585 billion of approximately 2.7 million victims. This estimate is extremely conservative and based on the number of reported victims vs. actual victims.

Number of Victims is Not Accurate

Reports have continued to climb by more than 50%. In addition, some experts still project that nearly two-thirds of victims’ abuse goes unreported. Nearly 8 million reports each year of child abuse are made. Approximately 70% of those are made by mandated reporters. Causing experts to believe that the realistic number of victims swells to 15 million children per year.

This is validated by the more than 50 million sexual abuse survivors within the United States . Estimating that there is still over 30% who have never told anyone about the abuse they endured.

Actual Cost

Based on the experts annual projections of 15 million child exploitation victims. The actuality of economical impact according to the 2010 baseline of $210,012 lifetime cost per victim, is over $3 trillion dollars! Based only on 1 year of victims. Within 20 years, when we have a whole generation impacted by this child exploitation epidemic what will the cost be then?