Internet Pornography Facts and Figures

- According to comScore Media Metrix, there were 63.4 million unique visitors to adult websites in December of 2005, reaching 37.2 percent of the Internet audience.

- By the end of 2004, there were 420 million pages of pornography, and it is believed that the majority of these websites are owned by less than 50 companies (Jan LaRue, “Obscenity and the First Amendment,” Summit on Pornography, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2322, May 19, 2005.)

- The Internet pornography industry generates $12 billion dollars in annual revenue – larger than the combined annual revenues of ABC, NBC, and CBS (Family Safe Media, January 10, 2006, www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html.)

- The largest group of viewers of Internet porn is children between ages 12 and 17 (Family Safe Media, December 15, 2005, www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html.)

Child Pornography

- Approximately 20 percent of all Internet pornography involves children.

- The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children revealed, in a June 2005 study, that 40 percent of arrested child pornography possessors had both sexually victimized children and were in possession of child pornography (also known as “dual offenders”). Both crimes were discovered in the same investigation. Another 15 percent were “dual offenders” who tried to victimize children by soliciting undercover investigators who posed as minors online. Overall, 36 percent of “dual offenders” showed or gave child pornography to identified victims or undercover investigators posing as minors online.

- Of those arrested in the U.S. for the possession of child pornography between 2000 and 2001, 83 percent had images involving children between ages 6 and 12; 39 percent had images involving children between ages 3 and 5; and 19 percent had images of infants and toddlers under age 3 (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Child Pornography Possessors Arrested in Internet-Related Crimes: Findings from the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, (Virginia: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2005.)

- More babies and toddlers are appearing on the Net and the abuse is getting worse. It is more torturous and sadistic than it was before. The typical age of children is between six and 12, but the profile is getting younger (Prof. Max Taylor, Combating Pedophile Information Networks in Europe, March 2003.)

Mobile Pornography

- In 2005, worldwide revenue from mobile phone pornography is expected to rise to $1 billion and could grow to three times that number or more within a few years. (Cassel Bryan-Low and David Pringle, “Sex cells: Wireless operators find that racy cell phone video drives surge in broadband use,” The Wall Street Journal, May 12, 2005.)

- One-third of youth ages 11 to 17 have their own cell phones today; it is expected that half will have them within the next two years (Bella English, “The secret life of boys: Pornography is a mouse click away, and kids are being exposed to it in ever-increasing numbers,” The Boston Globe, May 12, 2005, www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2005/05/12/the_secret_life_of_boys/.)

Youth and the Internet

- Half of children ages 13-18 often communicate through the Internet with someone they have not met in person.  One-third of children ages 8-18 have talked about meeting someone they have only met through the Internet.  Of these, one in eight discovered that someone they were communicating with online was an adult pretending to be much younger. (“Internet Safety: Realistic Strategies & Messages for Kids Taking More and More Risks Online,” Polly Klass Foundation, February 17, 2006, www.pollyklaas.org/internet-safety/pkfsummary.pdf.

- Thirty percent of teenage girls polled by the Girl Scout Research Institute said they had been sexually harassed in a chat room. Only seven percent, however, told their mothers or fathers about the harassment because they were worried that their parents would ban them from going online (Girl Scout Research Institute, 2002.)

- Nearly all young people have used a computer (98 percent) and gone online (96 percent).  About half of these (48 percent) go online from home, 20 percent from school, and 16 percent from someplace else. (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Study, March 2005.)

- Nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (London School of Economics, January 2002.)

Christians and Sexual Brokenness

- One out of every six women, including Christians, struggles with an addiction to pornography. That's 17 percent of the population, which, according to a survey by research organization Zogby International, is the number of women who truly believe they can find sexual fulfillment on the Internet. (Today's Christian Woman, September/October 2003.)

- “More than 80 percent of women who have this addiction take it offline,” says Marnie Ferree.  “Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.” (Today's Christian Woman, September / October 2003.)

- Fifty-one percent of pastors say cyberporn is a possible temptation. Thirty-seven percent say it is a current struggle.  Four in 10 pastors have visited a porn site.(Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001.)

From “Recent Statistics on Internet Dangers,” ProtectKids.Com, by Donna Rice Hughes,

www.protectkids.com/dangers/stats.htm,

Center for Data Analysis Report #08-10