Most parents who use social media post about their children. In a 2020 Pew Research Center survey of 3,640 US parents, 82% of those on social media had shared photos, videos or information about their kids. In a 2025 Ipsos survey of 2,047 parents in Ireland and France, about three in four had shared online in the past year.
Sharenting means parents posting about their children online. Every figure below names the survey, who ran it, the sample and the year.
What are the key sharenting statistics?
We checked each of these eight numbers against its source on 16 Oct 2026.
| Finding | Number | Source, sample and year |
|---|---|---|
| US parents on social media who have ever shared about their children | 82% | Pew Research Center, 3,640 US parents, 3,144 of them on social media, March 2020 |
| Parents who shared about their children online in the past year, including on WhatsApp | 75% Ireland, 71% France | Ipsos B&A for Ireland's DPC and France's CNIL, 1,028 Irish and 1,019 French parents, Oct to Nov 2025 |
| UK parents who share, post or blog photos or videos of their children online | 42% | Ofcom Communications Market Report, YouGov survey of 1,020 UK adults (parent count not given), 2017 |
| Photos the average UK parent had posted by a child's fifth birthday | 1,498 | Nominet, 2,000 UK parents surveyed by The Parent Zone, August 2016 |
| Parents of children aged 0 to 4 on social media who know a parent who overshared | 74% | C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll, 569 US parents of children aged 0 to 4, late 2014 |
| Sharing parents who have regretted a post about their child | 15% Ireland, 14% France | Ipsos B&A for the DPC and CNIL, 773 Irish and 729 French parents who share, Oct to Nov 2025 |
| Teens who say they have a problem with parents posting about them | 42% | Microsoft, teens in 25 countries in a 12,520-person study, 2019, preliminary |
| US children under two with an online presence | 92% | AVG, 2,200 mothers in 10 countries (US count not given), 2010, reported by Dark Reading (second-hand) |
How many parents post about their children online?
It depends on who was asked and what counted. Ofcom found 42% of all UK parents shared photos or videos of their children online in 2017, and Pew found 82% of US parents who use social media had ever shared about their children in 2020. Pew's base was the 3,144 social media users among 3,640 parents surveyed in March 2020, according to the survey's topline.
Ipsos B&A interviewed 1,028 parents in Ireland and 1,019 in France between 28 October and 11 November 2025 for both countries' data protection regulators, and 75% in Ireland and 71% in France had shared about their children online in the past year. That survey counts messaging apps, and WhatsApp was the most used platform in both countries. Ipsos reports that around one in three of the 773 Irish and 729 French parents who shared did so daily or several times a week.
Ofcom's figure comes from YouGov's survey of 1,020 UK adults for its 2017 Communications Market Report, where 56% of parents did not share.
How many photos do parents post?
The best-known count is 1,498 photos by a child's fifth birthday, the average in Nominet's survey of 2,000 UK parents of children aged 0 to 13, run by The Parent Zone in August 2016. Nominet put it at nearly 300 photos a year. We found no newer count from a named survey.
Why do parents share, and why do some choose not to?
Most parents share to keep family close. Among the 2,628 US parents in Pew's 2020 survey who had shared, 76% called easily sharing things about their children with family and friends a major reason. In the 2025 Ipsos survey for the DPC and CNIL, the top reasons among 773 Irish and 729 French sharing parents were sharing moments with friends and family (64% and 55%), pride in their children (38% and 28%) and keeping a record of important moments (31% and 28%).
Parents who don't share mostly cite privacy. Of the 509 US parents in Pew's 2020 survey who had never shared, 76% said not wanting other people to have access to the information was a major reason, and 71% said the same about not wanting sites to collect data about their children.
What worries parents about sharenting?
Strangers misusing photos tops the list. In the 2025 Ipsos survey of 1,028 Irish and 1,019 French parents, 66% in Ireland and 65% in France named images being misused by strangers as a risk, and 55% and 44% named AI or deepfakes made from their children's photos.
Worry about other parents is widespread. In the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll of 569 US parents of children aged 0 to 4, fielded in late 2014, 74% of parents on social media knew another parent who had shared too much about a child, and 52% of parents worried their own child might one day be embarrassed by what had been shared.
What do children think about their parents posting?
Children want to be asked. In a 2016 University of Washington and University of Michigan study of 249 US parent-child pairs with children aged 10 to 17, "no oversharing" made up 18% of the rules children said parents should follow, against 7% of the rules parents named for parents. The authors summarize that children were twice as likely as parents to say adults shouldn't post about children without permission.
A 2017 University of Michigan study of 331 US parent-child pairs with children aged 10 to 17 found parents and children agreed on how often parents posted, but children thought parents should ask permission more often than parents did. Children were fine with posts about achievements and happy family moments and not fine with embarrassing posts, which some described as "baby photos."
In 25 countries, 42% of teens aged 13 to 17 told Microsoft in 2019 they had a problem with their parents posting about them, in preliminary results from a 12,520-person study.
Of the 2,628 US parents in Pew's 2020 survey who share, 54% said they never worry their children might be upset about the posts in the future, and 3% worry often. In the 2025 Ipsos survey, 29% of 773 Irish and 24% of 729 French sharing parents said they had never asked their children's permission before sharing.
How big is a child's digital footprint?
It often starts before birth. A 2010 AVG survey of 2,200 mothers of children under two in 10 countries found 92% of US children had an online presence before age two, and 34% of US mothers had posted a prenatal scan, as Dark Reading reported on 7 Oct 2010. We could not find AVG's own release, so treat it as second-hand and dated.
Identifying details are shared by a minority. In the 2025 Ipsos survey, 12% of 773 Irish and 8% of 729 French sharing parents had ever included a child's full name, and 7% and 5% a home location or address, in what they shared.
Can sharenting lead to identity fraud?
There is a well-known forecast, but we found no published measurement. In May 2018 Barclays forecast that by 2030 sharenting would account for two-thirds of identity fraud facing young people, cost £667m a year and lead to 7.4 million incidents a year, as BBC News reported on 21 May 2018. That is a projection, not a count of crimes, and we could not find Barclays' own release or method.
In a University of Southampton survey of more than 1,000 UK parents, released in September 2025, one in six reported their child had experienced at least one harm such as cyberbullying, harassment, identity theft, identity fraud, a privacy breach or contact by a stranger. That is a self-reported link, not proof that posting caused the harm.
What can parents do with these numbers?
Use them to set a family rule. The most common safeguards among the 773 sharing parents in Ireland in the 2025 Ipsos survey were not posting photos of children undressed or in the bath (43%), adjusting privacy settings (41%), making social media accounts private (41%) and sharing only in private groups (37%). Our guides on whether to post your baby online and sharing baby photos with family privately cover the next step.
How did we choose these numbers?
We used a number only when we could read it in the publisher's own report, release, topline or paper, checked on 16 Oct 2026. We could find AVG's 2010 survey and Barclays' 2018 forecast only in news reports, so we name the outlet that reported them. We left out numbers with no named survey, sample or date.
The app we make: Many parents in these surveys post to keep a record of important moments. Our Little World is a private baby book app for iPhone and iPad that keeps that record without a feed. There is no public feed, no followers, no likes and no ads. Grandparents and family members you invite can view what's shared with them, never face data. It isn't for Android users, anyone who wants a printed book, or anyone who needs a free plan. More in why a private baby book.
