GENEVA, 19 March. - (ANA) - Illegal profits from forced labour around the world have increased by 37 percent in the last decade to a total of $236 billion (€217 billion) a year, according to a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva.

 

The increase over the past decade has been fuelled both by an increase in the number of people in forced labour (mainly in the private sector) and by its profitability.

 

Every year, traffickers and criminals make nearly $10,000 per victim of forced labour.

 

The total amount of illegal profits from forced labour has risen by $64 billion (37 per cent) since 2014, a dramatic increase that has been fuelled by both a growth in the number of people forced into labour, as well as higher profits generated from the exploitation of victims.

 

The ILO report, Profits and Poverty: The economics of forced labour , estimates that traffickers and criminals are generating close to US$10,000 per victim, up from US$8,269 (adjusted for inflation) a decade ago.

 

Total annual illegal profits from forced labour are highest in Europe and Central Asia (US$84 billion), followed by Asia and the Pacific (US$62 billion), the Americas (US$52 billion), Africa (US$20 billion), and the Arab States (US$18 billion). 

 

When illegal profits are expressed per victim, annual illegal profits are highest in Europe and Central Asia, followed by the Arab States, the Americas, Africa and Asia and the Pacific. 

 

There were 27.6 million people engaged in forced labour on any given day in 2021. This figure translates to 3.5 people for every thousand people in the world. Between 2016 and 2021 the number of people in forced labour increased by 2.7 million.  - (ANA) -

 

 

To download the report, visit: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_918034.pdf

 

AB/ANA/19 March 2024 - - -