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2022CHILD ONLINE SAFETY INDEXNational-Level Measures to Guide Child Online Safety Improvement CHECK YOUR NATION'S COSI
COSI Level
Low Medium High
Best Countries for Child Online Safety

The following are the rankings of 100 countries along with their Child Online Safety Index Score (COSI).

Scroll to the right to view the rankings of each country.

For more detailed scoring, please go down to Country Level Report below.

RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
1
United Kingdom
81.3
2
Japan
80.4
3
India
79.9
4
Australia
73.5
5
China
72.1
6
Italy
71.5
7
Singapore
70.8
8
Germany
70.2
9
Republic of Korea
69.6
10
United States of America
67.6
11
Peru
67.2
12
Colombia
67.0
13
Spain
66.7
14
Philippines
66.1
15
Canada
65.2
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
16
New Zealand
64.2
17
Qatar
63.4
18
Brazil
62.9
19
Turkey
62.6
20
Sweden
62.2
21
Ecuador
61.7
22
Taiwan
61.0
23
El Salvador
61.0
24
Malaysia
60.5
25
Romania
59.4
26
Czechia
58.5
27
Saudi Arabia
57.6
28
Mexico
56.4
29
South Africa
55.8
30
Nigeria
52.5
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
31
Vietnam
52.4
32
Egypt
52.1
33
Nepal
51.7
34
Angola
50.8
35
Russian Federation
49.5
36
France
49.3
37
Dominican Republic
49.2
38
Switzerland
49.0
39
Thailand
48.3
40
United Arab Emirates
47.3
41
Kazakhstan
46.9
42
Indonesia
46.9
43
Cambodia
46.2
44
Costa Rica
45.9
45
Portugal
44.8
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
46
Chile
44.7
47
Netherlands
44.3
48
Estonia
44.3
49
Finland
44.1
50
Oman
43.5
51
Ireland
43.3
52
Latvia
43.3
53
Belgium
43.1
54
Denmark
42.4
55
Bangladesh
42.3
56
Greece
41.6
57
Lebanon
41.5
58
Austria
41.4
59
Lithuania
41.3
60
Uruguay
41.2
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
61
Slovakia
41.0
62
Argentina
40.9
63
Kenya
40.9
64
Bulgaria
40.6
65
Croatia
40.5
66
Poland
40.4
67
Bahrain
39.5
68
Tunisia
39.4
69
Israel
39.2
70
Kuwait
39.2
71
Sri Lanka
38.9
72
Ukraine
38.5
73
Jamaica
38.2
74
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
38.1
75
Morocco
38.0
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
76
Jordan
38.0
77
Paraguay
36.9
78
Botswana
36.1
79
Ghana
35.6
80
Mongolia
35.4
81
Zambia
35.2
82
Lao People's Democratic Republic
35.2
83
Azerbaijan
35.2
84
Pakistan
34.7
85
Rwanda
34.5
86
Mozambique
33.2
87
Venezuela
33.1
88
Senegal
31.7
89
Mali
31.5
90
Madagascar
30.9
RANK
COUNTRY
COSI SCORE
91
Cameroon
30.6
92
Ethiopia
30.4
93
Democratic Republic of the Congo
29.3
94
Algeria
29.3
95
Côte d’Ivoire
28.1
96
Panama
27.4
97
Malawi
27.0
98
Zimbabwe
26.9
99
Guinea
24.4
100
Burundi
19.2

Real-Time Measure for Country’s Child Online Safety

The Child Online Safety Index (COSI) is a national-level measure to guide child online safety improvement. Through COSI, nations can identify areas of improvement for child online safety issues across six stakeholders: children, families, schools, ICT companies, and soft and hard infrastructures of the government.

The inaugural report of COSI was published in February 2020, and COSI 2022 makes the second publication in the series. COSI 2022 captures the post-COVID-19 pandemic global status of child online safety based on the DQ Institute’s global databank. The global databank consists of data on 329,142 children and adolescents in 100 different countries, collected from various external sources (e.g., international research projects and publications) and through DQ Institute’s own surveys.

The COSI Framework

The Child Online Safety Index (COSI) measures nations’ level of online safety for children across six stakeholders: Children, Families, Schools, Companies, and soft and hard infrastructures of the government. Each of these stakeholders is represented by a number of topics and indicators.

A COSI score is calculated for each country ranging from 10 (the worst) to 100 (the best).

COSIStakeholderGraphic

The 6 Stakeholders of COSI

Children’s Digital
Competencies

Assesses the level of children’s digital citizenship and their exposure to cyber-risks

Family
Support

Assesses the level of family support, such as parental mediation and digital parenting, for child online safety

School
Education

Assesses the level of school education on issues of online safety, such as cybersecurity, for child online safety

Company
Digital-ESG

Assesses the level of company commitment, such as through transparency reporting, to child online safety

Policies &
Regulations

Assesses the level of regulatory enforcement for child online safety

Technology
Infrastructure

Assesses the level of technology infrastructure support, such as internet access and affordability, for child online safety

Country Level Report

10080604020Children's Digital CompetenciesFamily SupportSchool EducationCompany Digital-ESGPolicies & RegulationsTechnology Infrastructure
Country Average      Global Average
Summary Singapore Global
Rank Score Average Score
Overall COSI 7 70.8 47
Children's Digital Competencies 4 72.9 36
Family Support 6 82.5 55
School Education 18 95.0 76
Company Digital-ESG 40 25.6 36
Policies & Regulations 71 39.7 49
Technology Infrastructure 5 91.3 66

COSI National Monitoring System

Helps Nations Make Better
Strategic Resource Allocations
Based On the Global Benchmark

Low
Medium
High

The Development of COSI

Two years ago, on Safer Internet Day (6th February 2018), the 2018 DQ Impact Report was published in association with the World Economic Forum. That initial report examined online safety and digital citizenship among 38,000 8- to 12-year-olds across 29 countries. Our key finding at that time was that 56% of children were exposed to at least one cyber risk (including risks like cyberbullying, gaming disorder, offline meeting with strangers, and online sexual behaviors). This report created an impetus to expand and deepen our knowledge of the risks children face, as well as what resources act as protective factors.

The inaugural report of COSI, which examined six major pillars of support for children’s online safety across 30 countries through 145,426 children’s data, was published on Safer Internet Day in 2020. In the two years following, we have broadened our vision and increased our measurement to examine and compare countries’ performance on COSI across six stakeholders, using data from 329,142 children and adolescents in 100 countries.

COSI is dedicated to monitoring trends in Child Online Safety around the world with real-time updates. We invite the academic research and expert communities to work together with us to further improve COSI. We especially welcome suggestions of how COSI can become more relevant to researchers’ own countries. If interested, please contact us at partnership@dqinstitute.org.

“The Child Online Safety Index shows young people need more resources to stay safe online around the world, which is why IBM is contributing to this important work with our recently released "Let's Talk Safe Tech" initiative which aims to educate young people about best practices in cybersecurity at no cost,” said Guillermo Miranda, Global Head of IBM Corporate Social Responsibility. “The DQ Institute is paving the way for us to understand more about the important benchmarks for cybersafety, and we look forward to continuing to work with them on our shared mission to improve the online safety of youth everywhere.” -Guillermo Miranda Senior Advisor / Member of the Science Advisory Board, BetterUp “A full half of the global population is under 30. While the young population has grown by almost 140 million over the past 20 years, so too has youth unemployment. I welcome the work of DQ Institute as a way to provide evidence on how the power of ICTs can create the world that we want. A world where everyone, no matter where they live, what their gender or what language they speak, has access to the same basic rights and opportunities. A world where every young person has the chance to prosper and realize his or her dreams.” -Doreen Bogdan-Martin Secretary-General Elect of the International Telecommunication Union “Every year, JA Worldwide prepares millions of global youth with the employment and entrepreneurship skills they need to thrive right now and in the future. In this fast-moving and complex age of technology, developing digital skills couldn’t be more important. That’s why we’re proud to partner with DQ Institute to integrate training and assessment of young people’s digital quotient (DQ) into our core programmes.” -Asheesh Advani CEO of JA Worldwide “As a 16-year participant in Safer Internet Day, Microsoft is pleased to support the inaugural release of the DQ Institute’s Child Online Safety Index (COSI). Helping to protect children on the internet is part of our longstanding work to promote a safer online environment for all, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with the DQ Institute and others to encourage greater civility and kindness in all digital interactions.” -Jacqueline Beauchere Global Head of Platform Safety, Snap Inc. “In an increasingly digitised world, child online safety is more important than ever and I applaud the work of the DQ Institute in raising awareness of this important aspect of our society.” -Peter Estlin Former Lord Mayor of London “A long-awaited blueprint to guide governments, private companies, parents and teachers to effectively creating safer online environment for children. The latest masterpiece from Dr. Park and her team.” -Somchai Lertsutiwong CEO, Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited, Thailand “Singtel believes firmly in the education and promotion of responsible digital citizenship. We are honoured to have been involved in the development and implementation of the DQ framework right from the beginning.” -Mr Andrew Buay Vice President of the Group Sustainability, Singtel “ DQInstitute does outstanding work in promoting digital citizenship for children and parents!” -Ms Irina Bokova Former UNESCO Director-General

Impact
Research

What are digital competencies for the future?

What is the impact of digital media and technology on children and its implication to national and global society?

What are effective ways to provide safe and creative digital education eco-system for all children around the world?

DQ Institute adopts an evidence-based and data-based approach. DQ metrics were developed through data analytic research through multi-national studies based on a multi-disciplinary approach.

We invite researchers, educators, and organizations around the world to tackle these issues to be part of our DQ Research Network.