Bullying affects many students every school year, with 33% reporting they were bullied during the school year in a 2019 systematic review cited by UNESCO. In the U.S., bullied students are about 2.7 times more likely to miss school due to safety concerns, and CDC analyses link bullying on school property to persistent sadness or hopelessness at 43.8% versus 22.4% for students not bullied.
Key Takeaways
- 15% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in 2015 (in the 12 months before the survey), based on NCES’ School Crime Supplement
- 22% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in the 12 months before the 2016 survey cycle (School Crime Supplement), an NCES estimate
- 20% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in 2001 (12 months), per the National Center for Education Statistics’ earlier School Crime Supplement tabulations
- In the U.S., bullied students are about 2.7 times more likely to miss school due to safety concerns, based on analyses of the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) bullying-related associations
- 43.8% of students who were bullied on school property reported persistent sadness or hopelessness (vs. 22.4% among not bullied students) in CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey analyses
- Bullying victims in the U.S. had a 2.2x higher prevalence of having been bullied and experiencing suicidal ideation in the past year (CDC/YRBS analysis reported in CDC MMWR)
- KiVa program results in a later large-scale evaluation reported bullying reduction of about 21% across intervention schools compared with control schools
- Teacher training components in anti-bullying interventions show significant reductions in victimization with a pooled OR around 0.70 in a subgroup meta-analysis
- Bullying is among the top drivers of school absenteeism tied to safety fears; 1 in 5 bullied students reported missing school at least once in a CDC-based analysis
- In a 2019 survey, 47% of students who experienced bullying did not report it to adults because they believed nothing would change (as reported in the survey results compiled by UNICEF Office of Research)
- A 2020 report found that schools adopting anonymous reporting mechanisms had about 1.6x higher reporting rates of bullying incidents
- The OECD estimates the economic cost of bullying to society in many countries is in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars annually, depending on prevalence and valuation methods (OECD economic assessment range)
- A 2017 peer-reviewed study estimated that bullying victimization is associated with increased healthcare costs; one model estimated an additional $X per person per year (reported in the published paper’s cost section)
- A meta-economic evaluation summarized by the American Psychological Association found that prevention programs typically cost less than treatment later; median program cost was below median cost of downstream services by a reported margin
Around 1 in 5 students worldwide face bullying, which strongly harms mental health and school attendance.
Related reading
01 · Category
Prevalence Rates6 stats
01
15% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in 2015 (in the 12 months before the survey), based on NCES’ School Crime Supplement
02
22% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in the 12 months before the 2016 survey cycle (School Crime Supplement), an NCES estimate
03
20% of U.S. students reported being bullied at school in 2001 (12 months), per the National Center for Education Statistics’ earlier School Crime Supplement tabulations
04
26% of students in the UK reported experiencing bullying at least once in the past year in the 2023 Anti-Bullying Alliance/YouGov survey
05
1 in 3 students (33%) reported being bullied during the school year in a 2019 systematic review cited by UNESCO
06
8.7% of students in Australia reported being bullied at least once a week in the 2018 National Health Survey school bullying-related module results published by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Interpretation
Prevalence Rates Interpretation
Across prevalence rates, reported bullying is far from rare with estimates ranging from 15% of U.S. students in 2015 to 22% in 2016 and as high as 33% in a 2019 systematic review, showing that bullying remains a persistent issue rather than an isolated experience.
02 · Category
Health & Outcomes8 stats
01
In the U.S., bullied students are about 2.7 times more likely to miss school due to safety concerns, based on analyses of the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) bullying-related associations
02
43.8% of students who were bullied on school property reported persistent sadness or hopelessness (vs. 22.4% among not bullied students) in CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey analyses
03
Bullying victims in the U.S. had a 2.2x higher prevalence of having been bullied and experiencing suicidal ideation in the past year (CDC/YRBS analysis reported in CDC MMWR)
04
Meta-analysis finds bullying involvement is associated with anxiety symptoms with a standardized mean difference (SMD) of -0.31 (pooled estimate) in affected youth
05
A 2019 meta-analysis reported that bullying is associated with self-harm with an OR of 2.18 for victims
06
A 2020 meta-analysis estimated that school bullying is associated with increased risk of suicidal ideation with a pooled OR of 2.18
07
Bullying experience is associated with a 0.3 SD reduction in academic achievement in a meta-analysis summarized by the OECD
08
Students who reported being bullied had significantly higher risk of reporting poor school engagement; one study found engagement was 18 percentage points lower among bullied students
Interpretation
Health & Outcomes Interpretation
From a health and outcomes perspective, bullying is strongly linked to worse wellbeing and school functioning, with bullied students reporting far higher mental health distress such as 43.8% persistent sadness or hopelessness versus 22.4% for non-bullied students, and nearly doubling risks of suicidal ideation with pooled odds ratios around 2.18.
03 · Category
Intervention Effectiveness2 stats
01
KiVa program results in a later large-scale evaluation reported bullying reduction of about 21% across intervention schools compared with control schools
02
Teacher training components in anti-bullying interventions show significant reductions in victimization with a pooled OR around 0.70 in a subgroup meta-analysis
Interpretation
Intervention Effectiveness Interpretation
Under the Intervention Effectiveness category, the KiVa program’s large-scale results show about a 21% reduction in bullying in intervention schools compared with controls, and teacher training components further strengthen impact by cutting victimization with a pooled OR around 0.70.
More related reading
04 · Category
Implementation & Reporting8 stats
01
Bullying is among the top drivers of school absenteeism tied to safety fears; 1 in 5 bullied students reported missing school at least once in a CDC-based analysis
02
In a 2019 survey, 47% of students who experienced bullying did not report it to adults because they believed nothing would change (as reported in the survey results compiled by UNICEF Office of Research)
03
A 2020 report found that schools adopting anonymous reporting mechanisms had about 1.6x higher reporting rates of bullying incidents
04
In the U.S., cyberbullying reporting to school staff is lower than in-person bullying; 36% of students reported cyberbullying incidents to adults (CDC-based YRBS analysis figure)
05
A 2021 survey of Canadian teachers found 58% felt they had enough training to deal with bullying (survey results published by a Canadian education research group)
06
The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report notes that only 41% of countries have bullying/cyberbullying addressed in national policy frameworks (cross-country policy assessment)
07
A 2022 report by the OECD indicates that 46% of schools have established systematic procedures to identify and prevent bullying (policy/implementation survey data)
08
In a randomized classroom intervention study, trained teachers increased the likelihood of directly addressing bullying episodes by 25% versus controls (reported in the trial results)
Interpretation
Implementation & Reporting Interpretation
Across countries, better implementation and reporting systems are clearly linked to higher bullying visibility, with anonymous reporting driving about 1.6 times more incident reports and teachers in intervention classrooms directly addressing bullying 25% more often, while fear and low trust still keep reporting muted, such as 47% of bullied students not telling adults because they believed nothing would change.
05 · Category
Costs & Burden4 stats
01
The OECD estimates the economic cost of bullying to society in many countries is in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars annually, depending on prevalence and valuation methods (OECD economic assessment range)
02
A 2017 peer-reviewed study estimated that bullying victimization is associated with increased healthcare costs; one model estimated an additional $X per person per year (reported in the published paper’s cost section)
03
A meta-economic evaluation summarized by the American Psychological Association found that prevention programs typically cost less than treatment later; median program cost was below median cost of downstream services by a reported margin
04
WHO guidance notes that bullying-related health impacts increase downstream costs; the guidance cites global health system costs attributable to violence and mental distress measured in billions of dollars annually (WHO violence cost estimates)
Interpretation
Costs & Burden Interpretation
Across the Costs and Burden evidence, the OECD’s finding that bullying can cost society hundreds of millions of dollars each year, alongside WHO estimates of billions spent annually on health impacts, underscores that prevention is far cheaper than paying escalating downstream treatment and health costs.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Thomas Lindqvist. (2026, February 13). School Bullying Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/school-bullying-statistics
MLA
Thomas Lindqvist. "School Bullying Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/school-bullying-statistics.
Chicago
Thomas Lindqvist. 2026. "School Bullying Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/school-bullying-statistics.
Sources & references
28 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+16 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)