Well over a third of children in Sweden have been sexually approached over the internet by someone they suspect to be an adult, a new study has suggested.
The study, commissioned by internet safety charity Trast and the World Childhood Foundation, which was set up by Sweden's Queen Silvia, found that more than half of girls has been contacted.
"The numbers are extremely high, worryingly high, but it is a similar result to other surveys," Gustav Alberius, Trast's founder, told The Local. "It's basically a fact that half of all girls are being contacted with sexual intentions online, which is crazy."
The survey of 1,015 people aged between 16 and 20 years old asked if, before they were 15, anyone over the age of 20 had tried to talk to them about sex, sent them naked pictures of themselves or others, or asked if they wanted to meet, or do something sexual with them.
No less than 51 percent of female respondents answered 'yes' to one or more of these questions, 18 percent of boys, and 37 percent overall.