30+ Plagiarism Statistics and Facts You Need to Know in 2025

Plagiarism—using someone else's work or ideas and presenting them as your own—can have serious consequences, from tarnished academic records and legal troubles to a damaged reputation. While commonly associated with writing, art, or music, plagiarism isn’t confined to creative fields.

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has fueled concerns about plagiarism. Researchers have found text matches in content previously generated with AI tools or on the internet. To combat this, many businesses now rely on plagiarism checker tools with extensive online databases to crawl the web and compare work. 

Top plagiarism facts and statistics

It might surprise you to discover how many people claim work that’s not their own. Understanding the following facts helps us see why giving credit where it's due is so important. 

• An average student spends almost eight minutes editing one page of plagiarized content. They write around 190 pages of assignments per semester and spend 50 hours a year fixing plagiarism issues.
• Among students using AI for schoolwork, 50% use it partially while completing most themselves, 30% rely on it for the majority, and 17% submit AI-completed assignments without edits.
• 14.1% of students in Canada plagiarized words without referencing their sources in 2021. 
• 2.2% of students in Australia got caught for plagiarizing text in 2021.
• 14.5% of people in the US intentionally used someone else’s text without referencing them correctly. 
• 85% of students feel plagiarism helps them get better scores.
• By the end of January 2024, a total of 729 cases had been filed with the Copyright Claims Board (CCB).
• 3.2% of students in the US got caught plagiarizing text in 2021.

Plagiarism in high school and colleges

Worldwide, high school or junior college students openly admit to plagiarizing content in their assignments, homework, and tests. Many have used other’s work without referencing the original source, adding to academic dishonesty. 

The statistics below show the real state of plagiarism in schools, colleges, and universities.

• The average plagiarism rate in scanned assignments was 23% at career and technical colleges, 32% at community colleges, and 28% at both private and public schools. 
• One in three high school students admit to plagiarizing their projects using online resources.
• From January 2023 to January 2024, the UK had the highest percentage of plagiarized student papers and assignments, at 33.25%, while South Africa had the lowest, at 13.47%.
• During the same period, plagiarism rates varied by school type: college assignments and papers had 27.86%, e-learning certifications saw 39.40%, and high school papers contained 29.48% plagiarism.

• 16.2% of students in Ireland used others’ work without giving a reference in 2021, the highest among the countries surveyed.
• 95% of students cheat on a test or homework, committing plagiarism. 
• 15% of students are affected by the rise of fake or copied term papers in the university system.

Student sentiments about plagiarism

The social aspects of plagiarism matter not just in schools and work, but in the ways we respect each other's agency and creativity. Understanding how students feel about plagiarism could be the first step toward encouraging them to produce original work. The statistics below reflect their opinions and thoughts on plagiarism.

• Students and faculty agree actions like cheating on exams or hiring help are clear misconduct, yet 11% of students and 2% of faculty disagree. 

• Plagiarism is considered definite cheating by 68% of students and 65% of faculty.

Generative AI and plagiarism statistics

Technologies like large language models and generative AI have made content creation easier. They can generate text at scale based on the prompts users provide. Since they’re trained on a big dataset, it’s unlikely to get entirely the same results on advanced models. 

But sometimes, in less advanced versions of tools like GPT 3 or 3.5, the generated text matches previously generated text. The statistics below show how gen AI relates to plagiarism. 

• 48% of students use ChatGPT for at-home quizzes, 53% have used it to write essays, and 22% turn to it to create outlines. 
• 89% of students use ChatGPT to do their homework assignments.
• 19% of text generated by ChatGPT matches previously generated texts and other sources on the internet, especially in GPT 3 and GPT 3.5 models. 
• 34% of educators want schools to ban ChatGPT. 
• 5% of educators use ChatGPT to teach, and 7% to construct writing prompts.
• 66% of educators support student access to ChatGPT. 
• Both students and educators are highly aware of AI detection software, with 87% recognizing its role in managing cheating and plagiarism.
• There is a significant gap between educators and students in terms of following school AI ethics policies. While only 27% of educators admit to misusing AI tools, 55% of students report doing so.

Plagiarism is a creator's plague

Plagiarism makes you dependent on copying to pass tests or achieve creative success, limiting the learning process. When caught, you might even face consequences like suspension from school or job loss. People think it can help them perform better or get good grades. But no matter how much it helps you expedite things now, it will cause a severe and negative impact sooner than you think.

Check out the top seven plagiarism checkers to remove copied content from your work.