Facts: 11 Facts About Human Trafficking

1. Globally, the average cost of a slave is $90.
2. Trafficking primarily involves exploitation which comes in many forms, including: forcing victims into prostitution, subjecting victims to slavery or involuntary servitude and compelling victims to commit sex acts for the purpose of creating pornography.
3. According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.
4. There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today.
5. According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year. More than 70% are female and half are children.
6. The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14-year-old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children.
7. California harbors 3 of the FBI’s 13 highest child sex trafficking areas on the nation: Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
8. The National Human Trafficking Hotline receives more calls from Texas than any other state in the US. 15% of those calls are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
9. Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year.
10. Human trafficking is the third largest international crime industry (behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking). It reportedly generates a profit of $32 billion every year. Of that number, $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.
11. The International Labour Organization estimates that women and girls represent the largest share of forced labor victims with 11.4 million trafficked victims (55%) compared to 9.5 million (45%) men.

Fact: Minorities are the Main Victims of Human Trafficking

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged a total of 118 defendants in forced labor and adult sex trafficking cases, representing a 19 percent increase over the number of defendants charged in the previous year and the highest number ever charged in a single year. The same year DOJ prosecuted 125 total human trafficking cases (including sex trafficking of minors) and convicted 70.

In 2011, the combined number of federal trafficking convictions—including cases involving forced labor, sex trafficking of adults, and sex trafficking of minors—totaled 151, compared to 141 in 2010.

Of confirmed sex trafficking victims whose race was known, 26 percent were white and 40 percent were black.

Of confirmed labor trafficking victims, 56 percent were Hispanic and 15 percent were Asian.

Of these incidents, 82 percent involved sex trafficking allegations, of which, nearly one-half (48 percent) involved allegations of adult prostitution and 40 percent prostitution or sexual exploitation of a child.

Most confirmed sex trafficking victims in cases investigated by federally funded task forces were female (94 percent). Of the 63 confirmed labor trafficking victims, 32 percent were male and 68 percent were female.