Awareness topic

Modern Slavery

Modern slavery is an umbrella term for severe exploitation, including forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, and trafficking.

Overview

Modern slavery language can help people see connections across abuses, but Five24 uses it carefully so specific harms remain clear.

Start with the definitions

U.S. Department of State

Human trafficking

A crime in which traffickers exploit and profit from adults or children by compelling them to perform labor or engage in commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion. Movement across a border is not required.

Read the State Department definition ↗

International Organization for Migration

Human trafficking

IOM explains trafficking through three connected elements: an act such as recruiting or transporting a person; means such as force, fraud, deception, or abuse of vulnerability; and the purpose of exploitation.

Read the IOM framework ↗

IOM on labour exploitation

Labour exploitation

A broader category than trafficking: workers can experience exploitative or hazardous conditions without a case meeting the legal elements of trafficking. IOM describes exploitation as taking unjust advantage of another person for one’s own benefit, including forced labour or services, slavery-like practices, and other abuse.

Read the IOM labour-exploitation research ↗

A useful distinction: every trafficking case involves exploitation, but not every harmful or unfair labour condition meets the legal definition of human trafficking.

The global picture

Modern slavery is a legal and statistical category—not a single experience.

For its 2021 global estimate, the ILO, Walk Free, and IOM counted two principal components: people forced to work and people forced into marriage. Other harms, including trafficking for different forms of exploitation and the recruitment of children by armed groups, are measured separately.

Forced labour27.6M

People in forced labour on any given day in 2021.

Forced marriage22M

People living in a forced marriage in 2021.

Sex trafficking6.3M

People in forced commercial sexual exploitation in 2021.

Child soldiers7,402

Children verified as recruited or used in armed conflict in 2024.

The first two figures are the ILO’s 49.6 million modern-slavery estimate. Sex trafficking and child-soldier figures are reported separately by the ILO and UN, use different definitions, and should not be added to that total.

Forced labour

Work can be forced in many sectors and settings.

Forced labour means work or service demanded under threat of a penalty and without genuine voluntary consent. It can occur in agriculture, construction, domestic work, manufacturing, services, and commercial sexual exploitation.

6.3Mpeople were in forced commercial sexual exploitation; nearly four in five were women or girls.

Private actors86%

Imposed by private individuals or enterprises.

State-imposed14%

Imposed by state authorities, including prisons or armed forces.

Children12%

More than 3.3 million children among people in forced labour.

Where the estimates are concentrated

Most estimated cases are in Asia and the Pacific.

This pie chart shows Walk Free’s published source-region breakdown of the estimated 49.6 million people living in modern slavery in 2021. It is a share of the whole, not a ranking of people or countries.

Asia & the Pacific59.2%29.3M

Africa14.1%7.0M

Europe & Central Asia12.9%6.4M

Americas10.3%5.1M

Arab States3.5%1.7M

Percentages are calculated from the rounded regional totals, so they are approximate. The totals are from the ILO, Walk Free, and IOM’s 2021 global estimates of modern slavery. These are statistical source regions, not exact continents: Asia & the Pacific includes Oceania; Europe & Central Asia includes Central Asia; the Americas combines North and South America; and Arab States spans countries in Africa and Asia. Walk Free’s country-level dataset can support a separate derived continent view.

Trafficking, age, and sex

Detected victims are not the same as the hidden total.

UNODC’s 2024 Global Report describes people detected by national authorities—not everyone experiencing trafficking. In the reporting set covering 2020–2023, 62% of detected victims were adults and 38% were children.

202,478detected victims in the UNODC reporting set for 2020–2023.

Women39%

Girls22%

Men23%

Boys16%

Detected victims by sex and age group: women 39%, girls 22%, men 23%, boys 16%.

Related harms

Some questions need their own evidence.

From awareness to action

Better questions lead to better accountability.

Look for worker voice, recruitment practices, freedom to leave, credible remedy, and public evidence—not just a polished promise. Five24 helps communities keep learning and move from concern toward practical action.

Explore the Research Hub

A Five24 work-readiness session focused on dignified opportunity

Sources and limits

What these numbers can—and cannot—tell us.

Estimates are dated, definitions differ, and exploitation is underreported. Use the original publications for methodology, regional definitions, and updates.

ILO, Walk Free, and IOMGlobal Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage (2022; estimates for 2021)UNODCGlobal Report on Trafficking in Persons 2024 United NationsChildren and Armed Conflict: verified grave violations in 2024 UNICEFIs an End to Child Marriage within Reach? (child marriage estimate)

Modern Slavery

Overview

Start with the definitions

Human trafficking

Human trafficking

Labour exploitation

Modern slavery is a legal and statistical category—not a single experience.

Work can be forced in many sectors and settings.

Most estimated cases are in Asia and the Pacific.

Detected victims are not the same as the hidden total.

Some questions need their own evidence.

Forced marriage and child marriage

Children recruited by armed groups

Better questions lead to better accountability.

What these numbers can—and cannot—tell us.