Beijing, Mar 4 (IANS): A total of 433 child sexual abuse cases, involving 778 victims, were reported in China last year, a 30 per cent rise compared to 2015, according to a new report.

The report on child sexual abuse cases in 2016 was released by the Girls' Protection Foundation, a non-governmental group, at a seminar focusing on helping to prevent sexual abuse against children, the People's Daily reported on Saturday.

Most of the victims were aged between seven and 14; however, the youngest was less than two years old. Out of 778 children involved, 719 were girls, the report showed.

For the first time since 2013, the number of child sex abuse cases in rural areas had exceeded than in urban areas, with 329 of the 433 incidents occurring in the countryside.

Lan Chunyao, a deputy to the National People's Congress, said the government should not only make a greater investment in schools in rural areas, but should also build more schools for the children of migrant workers in cities to help reduce the chances of child sexual abuse, the People's Daily said.

The report said that 300 assault cases involved people known to the children, including their teachers (27.33 per cent), neighbours (24.33 per cent), close relatives (12 per cent) and other family members (10 per cent).

Offenders responsible for 127 of the cases were strangers to the children and majority of them were men.

Twenty-two per cent of the offenders were teachers, school bus drivers, chefs in schools, staff members of kindergartens, security guards and so on, whose occupations gave them easy access to children.