Kuala Lumpur, Nov 1 : Malaysia's sexual assault against children cases reached 1,389 in 2023, a significant increase of 21.1 per cent as compared to the figures of the previous year, official data showed Friday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement that the number of sexual offences involving children reported to the Royal Malaysia Police increased 26.5 per cent year-on-year to 1,567 in 2023.

Meanwhile, non-physical sexual assault on a child and child pornography offences recorded 91 cases and 67 cases respectively in 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

Based on the perspective of child protection, the number of children in need of care and protection recorded by the social welfare department increased 26.1 per cent year-on-year to 8,536 in 2023.

The number of children under 18 is 9.14 million, 26.8 per cent of Malaysia's total population of 34.06 million.

/IANS