The extent of human trafficking worldwide

It is difficult to estimate the extent of human trafficking worldwide. Organised crime organisations are often involved, and because such activities often take place in the shadows of society, these activities and their impact on human trafficking are difficult to assess and estimate. Furthermore, a systematic collection and comparison of existing data on human trafficking is lacking; estimations regarding the extent of this global phenomenon are therefore often based on speculations.

On a global level, detailed data is often not available or when present, it is frequently incomplete and unreliable. This is in part due to the great variation between individual countries' legal definitions of offenses constituting human trafficking, which complicate statistical comparisons of data. On a national level, a lack of coordinated data-collection between national institutions working with human trafficking can further complicate estimations (UN.GIFT 2008: Quantifying Human Trafficking, its Impact and the Responses to it).

This has been accounted for in Denmark, the result of which has been the establishment of the Danish Centre against Human Trafficking, as noted in the national Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings 2007 - 2010. The Centre undertakes systematic data-collection on identified victims of human trafficking and the assistance programs combating human trafficking on a national level, through the compilation and analysis of electronic registration forms filed by social outreach workers working in prostitution arenas.

Most likely due to the global- and national challenges previously described, many international organizations and governments, including the United Nations and the U.S. Department of State, have chosen not to present their own estimates regarding the extent of human trafficking in recent reports (see for example: US State Department 2009: Trafficking in Persons Report; UNODC 2009: Global Report on Trafficking in Persons). Rather, many reports refer to estimates cited in an ILO (International Labour Organization) report: A global alliance against forced labour (2005).

In this report, ILO estimates that on a global level, at least 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labour, bonded labour and commercial sexual servitude at any given time, of which 2.45 million are victims of human trafficking.

Out of the 2.4 million victims of human trafficking:

• Approx. 43 % (~ 1 million) are trafficked into the commercial sex industry.
• Approx. 32 % (~ 800.000) are trafficked into non-sexual forms of economic exploitation.
• Approx. 25 % (~ 600.000) are trafficked into a mixture of the commercial sex industry and non-sexual forms of economic exploitation, or the form of exploitation is unknown.

Sources:

ILO 2005: A global alliance against forced labour

ILO 2008: ILO Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings

ILO 2009: Report of the Director General: The cost of coercion

US State Department 2009: Trafficking in Persons Report

UNODC 2009: Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

UN.GIFT 2008: Quantifying Human Trafficking, its Impact and the Responses to it