Let’s take a deeper dive into the statistics behind human trafficking, the levels of human trafficking in the United States, the profit made due to the illegal activity, and the two main types of trafficking.
Human trafficking is often defined as the practice of exploiting adults and children for use as commodities, or objects, in conditions of sexual and labor servitude.
It’s a horrible criminal industry where people profit over the imposed misery and forced servitude of other people.
There are two main types of human trafficking, although there are many different ways it can occur. The two main types are labor trafficking and sex trafficking.
To make matters worse, these criminals make a profit by trafficking other people AND their victims can be anyone. Men, women, and children of any race, any age, and in any condition can fall victim.
Although most victims are female, men aren’t immune to serving this criminal underbelly.
Unfortunately, though, most victims are children. They’re easier to capture, subdue, and obtain for human trafficking. Many industries need workers who are smaller in size, have smaller hands, and can’t escape the abuse endured.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the statistics behind human trafficking, the levels of human trafficking in the United States, the profit made due to the illegal activity, and the two main types of trafficking.
Above is a heatmap that showcases all of the locations in the United States where human trafficking occurred during 2019.
Scary right? The numbers aren’t much better.
For every 10,000 people living in the world, 54 people become enslaved in some form of human trafficking. Most people who are victims of human trafficking are female, but a good percent of victims are male.
To make it worse, 25% of victims are children who are in forced labor, sex trafficking, and even forced marriage.
Before getting into the details behind different aspects of human trafficking, we need to understand some facts that put human trafficking in perspective...
Human trafficking in the U.S. is a terrifying thought.
Many people in the U.S. don’t want to admit that there is human exploitation going on. Many don’t want to admit that citizens and visitors go missing due to human trafficking. The sad truth is that it does happen, and at higher rates than you imagine.
Which states have the lowest rates of human trafficking? Vermont, Wyoming, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Alaska are the five states with the lowest rates of enslaved people according to World Population Review.
So which states have the highest rate of human trafficking? World Population Review compiled a list of human trafficking occurrences on the state-level, per 100k people...
Below, you can see an image of the arrests the FBI conducted related to human trafficking. Texas, Minnesota, Nevada, Florida, and Wisconsin were the top 5 states for FBI arrests in 2019 related to human trafficking.
However, in more recent months, some of the statistics are different. Just because some states have high arrest rates doesn’t mean that the rate of trafficked individuals is proportionate. For example, Nevada has the highest rate of trafficked people but has a relatively low population.
Since human trafficking happens on such a large scale across the US, the federal government relies heavily upon states to protect their citizens.
This leads to variations in definitions and organizational requirements based on location.
For example, the Texas Attorney General defines human trafficking as “modern-day slavery.” More specifically, Section 20A.01(4) of the Texas Penal Code defines human trafficking as “… means to transport, entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or otherwise obtain another person by any means.”
Even though Texas ranked lower on the list provided in the previous section, it’s one of the largest states in the US. Making it a central hub for this type of crime.
It makes sense that human trafficking makes a great deal of profit. If it didn’t, such illegal activity wouldn’t occur. In fact, the abuse, drugs, and fear forced upon victims wouldn’t exist at all if there wasn’t a large payoff for those perpetrating the damage.
If companies don’t need to pay their workers, then any product made from those workers has low costs of goods sold, making the profit margins abnormally high. Specific industries make several billion dollars of profit each year from human trafficking activities including sexual exploitation, mining, fishing, and forced domestic work.
In the legal business, about 80% of profit comes from about 20% of customers. In a similar sense, that’s why even though a small percentage of victims are sexually exploited, this type of human trafficking makes over 60% of the industry's profit. It’s horrific, yet it’s the reality of the situation millions of people are facing.
Here are some facts that showcase how human trafficking creates profit for the perpetrators...
Labor can mean a variety of things including working for households, government, or companies in a variety of conditions and typically without compensation.
Over 60% of the people who are victims of forced labor end up in the private economy. The remaining percent is in other forms of human trafficking. Nearly half of victims are in construction, manufacturing, mining, or hospitality industries.
These industries are typically those that locals aren’t willing to apply for, so the industries end up finding laborers elsewhere. This doesn’t mean that all construction companies use trafficked people. It also doesn’t mean that all domestic workers work in a household without pay for their services.
With that said, the industries listed below have high rates of trafficked people due to the ease of concealing how people are being ‘employed’, the amount on worker’s pay stubs, and how workers came to be ‘employed' at the company.
Here are 15 statistics to help you understand the forced labor aspect of human trafficking...
It’s well known that a big portion of the human trafficking industry involves sexual exploitation.
Three-fourths of victims of sexual exploitation don’t reside in the country where the events occurred. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they endured abduction and went abroad against their will. Some people end up in situations due to manipulation and coercion related to moving. They often end up in bad situations due to a web of deceit.
So who’s more at risk for this kind of human trafficking? 40% of sex trafficking victims are of African descent. This can be due to the environment of many minorities in white-dominant countries or due to the trafficking levels on the African continent. Caucasians are the second largest group targeted for sexual exploitation.
No matter how much melanin you have in your skin, your age, or your gender, everyone, and anyone is at risk of human trafficking. Below are five statistics to demonstrate what I mean.
As you can see, the situation isn’t pretty. Millions of people experience all sorts of abuse due to human trafficking. They lose days, months, and even years of their lives due to the selfishness of other people.
The best way to protect yourself and your family is to educate yourself and take preventative measures so that you aren't victimized.
Most people know not to walk alone at night. Many women carry a metal tool for self-defense, keys between knuckles, and pepper spray. People even take self-defense classes as a proactive way to deal with abduction situations.
Those are all good first steps, but you might need to take additional steps to keep yourself safe. How do you handle a situation where you or a friend consumes date rape drugs or something similar? A good first step would be to ask your local police station for advice about preventative measures.
If you ever feel like you are in danger, call 911. Please stay safe out there.
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