Modern Slavery: More Than 40 Million People Exploited Across the World

The latest Global Slavery Index, which gathers data from the Free Walk Foundation and the International Organisation for Migration, shows that there are over 40.3 million people living or working under conditions of slavery. According to the International Labour Organisation, Asia and the Pacific region is home to the second largest number of people working in these situations, at a rate of 6.1 per 1000 people, behind Africa. At four out of every 1,000 people, Asia-Pacific is the region with the highest prevalence of forced labor, and is again second behind Africa for forced marriages (2.0 per 1,000), the two most common forms of modern slavery.

These figures do not account for those people suffering similar conditions in conflict zones, on migration routes or in remote areas that are difficult to access.

Luiz Antonio Machada of the ILO said the figures are collated from labor inspections, court cases and household surveys, an approach which inevitably excludes many of the world