WUNRN
ILO - International Labour
Organization
ILO GLOBAL ESTIMATE OF FORCED LABOUR
- 20.9 MILLION VICTIMS - WOMEN & GIRLS REPRESENT GREATER SHARE
ILO
Global Estimate of Forced Labour: 20.9 million victims
A shocking 20.9 million women, men and children are trapped in
jobs into which they were coerced or deceived and which they cannot leave.
ILO
captures the full realm of forced labour and human trafficking for labour and
sexual exploitation, or what some call “modern-day slavery”. The figure means
that, at any given point in time, around three out of every 1,000 persons
worldwide are suffering in forced labour.
The new estimate updates the
one ILO produced seven years ago, in 2005. Though using the same basic
statistical approach as in 2005, the methodology has since been revised and
improved, which has given us a more robust figure this time.
Some highlights of the results:
18.7 million (90%) people are in
forced labour in the private economy, exploited by individuals or enterprises.
Out of these, 4.5 million (22%) are in forced sexual exploitation, and 14.2
million (68%) in forced labour exploitation in activities such as agriculture,
construction, domestic work and manufacturing.
Women and girls represent
the greater share of forced labour victims – 11.4 million (55%), as compared to 9.5 million (45%) men and
boys.
Adults are more affected than
children – 74% (15.4 million) of victims fall in the age group of 18 years and
above, whereas children are 26% of the total (or 5.5 million child victims).
2.2 million (10%) work in
state-imposed forms of forced labour, for example in prisons under conditions
which violate ILO standards, or in work imposed by the state military or by
rebel armed forces.
We are pleased to let you know
that today we are also releasing a new revised edition of our guidelines on
surveys to estimate forced labour at national level, entitled “Hard to see,
harder to count”. This represents one step towards helping countries gather
better data on which to base their national policy responses.
We have prepared a range of
documents which will provide you with useful information about the new
estimate, how it was produced and what it means. They can be accessed by
clicking on the links below.
A technical report, which contains the results of the global
estimate and a detailed presentation of the methodology used to obtain them.
An executive summary of the report.
A Q&A presenting answers to common questions about the
figures and about forced labour.
A global factsheet giving an easy-to-use graphic presentation of the
main results, including the regional breakdown of absolute numbers and of
prevalence (number of victims per 1000 inhabitants)
“Hard to see, harder to count” Survey guidelines to estimate forced labour of adults and
children”. Detailed “how-to” guidance on implementing national surveys to
gather quantitative data on forced labour.