kna/ | More and more children and teenagers in Germany are watching porn. Almost half of 11- to 17-year-olds had experiences with pornographic content in 2025, according to a representative survey by the NRW Media Authority published on Tuesday in Düsseldorf. The share has thus risen by more than a third in the past two years; in 2023 it was only 35 percent. More than half of the respondents (56 percent) were under 14 years old when they saw their first porn.
kna/ | More and more children and teenagers in Germany are watching porn. Almost half of 11- to 17-year-olds had experiences with pornographic content in 2025, according to a representative survey by the NRW Media Authority published on Tuesday in Düsseldorf. The share has thus risen by more than a third in the past two years; in 2023 it was only 35 percent. More than half of the respondents (56 percent) were under 14 years old when they saw their first porn.
The NRW State Media Authority has for years been urging porn platforms to implement age verification and has repeatedly threatened with blocking. Children and adolescents find it difficult to properly assess sexual content. Only 25 percent rated it as unrealistic; in 2023 it was around 33 percent.
Criticism of Porn Platforms
The share of those who perceive porn as informative rose in the past two years from 8 to 13 percent, as reported. Significantly more than for education, minors use porn as a guide for themselves. More than a third of adolescents (36 percent) said they wanted to try the shown content themselves. Among the boys, this value is significantly higher at 43 percent than among the surveyed girls (27 percent).
The director of the NRW State Media Authority, Tobias Schmid, called the results alarming. He accused the major porn platforms of a reckless approach because they do not implement the simplest protective measures. „Youth media protection has the task of protecting the weakest in our society — children — from contents they cannot classify and that unsettle and disturb them,“ said Schmid.
Also an Increase in Sexting
With the rising porn consumption, the mutual sending of sexual content among children and adolescents has also increased, the so-called sexting. 10 percent of 11- to 17-year-olds reported that they had sent sexting messages themselves (2023: 6 percent). At the same time, 31 percent said they had received sexting messages from others; an increase of 10 percentage points compared to 2023. 83 percent of those who received such content received it unsolicited.
The survey was conducted online from early September to early October, according to the report. It included 2,967 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17.
Together for a Free Press
As a cooperative, we belong to our readers. And our journalism is not only 100% independent of corporations, but also freely accessible. We make all articles freely available, without a paywall. Especially in these times, classifications and information must be accessible to everyone. Our readers do not have to pay, but they know that critical, independent journalism does not arise from nowhere. We are very grateful for that. To ensure we can continue producing our journalism tomorrow, we need more support. Our next goal: 50,000 – and with your participation we can achieve it. Make a mark for and for the future of our journalism. With just 5 euros you can join!
Support now
