That is the warning from Dr Yuhyun Park, founder of the Singapore-based DQ Institute, a global think tank that develops international standards and research frameworks for digital intelligence and child online safety.

She said uneven progress in cyber protection between advanced and developing economies was leaving millions of children in poorer regions vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and manipulation in the digital world.

“There’s an increasing disparity between the rich and poor countries and across the region,” Park told This Week in Asia. “The most vulnerable kids are least protected at this moment.”

A new edition of the DQ Institute’s Child Protection in Cyberspace Index (CPC Index), released earlier this month, found that globally, 76 per cent of children aged between eight and 18 had encountered at least one cyber risk in the post-pandemic period. In Southeast Asia, that figure rises to 79 per cent. In South Asia, it is even higher at 82 per cent.

Other high-risk regions include Central Asia, Northern Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, where legal and institutional safeguards remain inconsistent or underdeveloped.