About 16 percent of children aged 11 to 15 will experience cyberbullying in 2022, up from 13 percent four years ago, a WHO European report covering 44 countries said on Wednesday.

“This report is a wake-up call for all of us to combat bullying and violence wherever and whenever it occurs,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement. said.

According to the study titled Health Behaviors of School-Age Children, 15 percent of boys and 16 percent of girls reported that they had been cyberbullied at least once in recent months. The UN agency noted that the pandemic has changed young people’s attitudes towards each other.

“At a time when young people’s worlds have become increasingly virtual during lockdown, virtual forms of peer-to-peer violence have become particularly relevant at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report says.

Other bullying incidents remain largely stable, with a slight increase. 11 percent of girls and boys reported being bullied at school at least two to three times a month in the past few months; This rate was 10 percent four years ago.

Six hours of screen time

Without giving details, the World Health Organization stated that the places where boys were exposed to the highest level of cyberbullying were Bulgaria, Lithuania, Moldova and Poland, and the lowest level was seen in Spain.

“Given that young people spend up to six hours online each day, even small changes in the level of bullying and violence can have major consequences on the health and well-being of thousands of people,” Kluge said. said.

The report said one in eight young people admitted to bullying others, up three percent from 2018.

Meanwhile, the number of teenagers involved in physical fighting has remained steady at 10 percent for four years; 14 percent in boys and 6 percent in girls. The study was based on data from 279,000 children and adolescents from 44 countries in Europe, Central Asia and Canada.

In most countries, cyberbullying peaks at age 11 for boys and 13 for girls. Parents’ socio-economic status had little impact on children’s behavior, the report found. But Canada was an exception, where less affluent youth were more likely to be bullied. Here, 27 percent of girls from the least affluent 20 percent of families said they had been bullied at school, while 21 percent of girls from the wealthiest 20 percent of families said they had been bullied at school.

The report noted that the problem was widespread and called for more efforts to raise awareness.

“Additional investment is needed to monitor various forms of peer violence,” the message reads.

“There is an urgent need to educate young people, families and schools about the forms and consequences of cyberbullying, while regulating social media platforms to limit the impact of cyberbullying,” the report concluded.