Slavery in the 21st century

The prevalence of modern slavery as percentage of the population, by country according to Global Slavery Index by the Walk Free Foundation.

Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society. Estimates of the number of enslaved people today range from around 38 million[1] to 49.6 million,[2][3][4] depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used.[5] The estimated number of enslaved people is debated, as there is no universally agreed definition of modern slavery;[6] those in slavery are often difficult to identify, and adequate statistics are often not available.

The International Labour Organization[7] estimates that, by their definitions, over 40 million people are in some form of slavery today. Some 24.9 million people are in forced labor, of whom 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture,[8] 4.8 million people in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million people in forced labour imposed by state authorities.[8] An additional 15.4 million people are in forced marriages.

  1. ^ "Forced labour – Themes". Ilo.org. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  2. ^ Kelly, Annie (1 June 2016). "46 million people living as slaves, latest global index reveals". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ASI46m was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "What is Modern Slavery? | Hope for Justice". hopeforjustice.org. 23 December 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Walk Free". The Minderoo Foundation. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  6. ^ Paz-Fuchs, Amir. "Badges of Modern Slavery". The Modern Law Review. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  7. ^ International Labour Organization (19 September 2017). "Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage". International Labour Organization. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking (Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking)". www.ilo.org. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.