Bullying affects students across many settings, and what happens in school can shape how often it occurs and who gets help. U.S. data show 15% of students reported being bullied in 2015, while the UK reports 26% in the past year. The effects can include absenteeism tied to safety fears, mental health impacts like persistent sadness, and lower reporting when students believe nothing will change. This page brings together prevalence, outcomes, and evidence on prevention and reporting.
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
Across countries, bullying affects many students and leads to major mental health and absenteeism costs.
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 countries, prevalence rates show that bullying remains widespread, with reported in-school bullying ranging from 15% of U.S. students in 2015 to 26% in the UK in 2023 and reaching 33% in a UNESCO-cited 2019 review, underscoring that bullying is a persistent issue in prevalence terms rather than a rare event.
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
In the Health and Outcomes category, the data show that bullying is strongly linked to worse mental health, including higher risks of missing school due to safety concerns by 2.7 times and nearly doubling the odds of suicidal ideation with a pooled OR of 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 angle, the KiVa program and teacher training components both point to meaningful bullying reduction, with KiVa cutting bullying by about 21% in intervention schools and teacher training lowering victimization as shown by a pooled OR of roughly 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
Implementation and reporting efforts matter because only 1 in 5 bullied students report missing school fearlessly, yet 47% of bullied students in 2019 stayed silent thinking nothing would change, while anonymous mechanisms boosted reporting about 1.6 times, highlighting that stronger, more trusted reporting channels and training are key.
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
Bullying creates a significant and ongoing Costs and Burden for society, with the OECD estimating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual economic costs across many countries, while peer reviewed evidence and WHO guidance show these harm-related expenses can also cascade into higher healthcare system and downstream public health costs.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
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)