HUMAN TRAFFICKING
STATS & FACTS
LOCAL, NATIONAL & BEYOND
What is human trafficking?
The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation (NIJ).
What is sex trafficking?
The act of forcing or manipulating another person to have sex or engage in sexual behaviors for the monetary gain of someone else (in exchange for something of value – money, drugs, housing, food, etc.) (Sanders).
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Human trafficking enslaves 24.9 million people around the world, with 4.8 million in sexual exploitation (International Labour Office).
In 2014, human trafficking earned roughly $150 billion that year for traffickers. $99 billion of this came from commercial sexual exploitation (International Labour Office).
For reference, in 2019, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Google's net incomes combined equaled $58.77 billion.
UNITED STATES STATISTICS
In 2019, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received contacts resulting in the following (U.S. Department of State):
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22,326 survivors of human trafficking identified
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Sex trafficking: 14,597
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Labor trafficking: 4,934
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Sex and labor: 1,048
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Not specified: 1,747
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Situations of sex trafficking: 8,248
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Individual victims & survivors of sex trafficking: 14,597
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Top 3 identified sex trafficking types:
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Escort services: 1,278
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Illicit massage, health and beauty: 1,247
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Pornography: 733
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IOWA STATISTICS
In 2019, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received contacts resulting in the following (Polaris):
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235 survivors of human trafficking identified
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98 identified cases of trafficking:
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73 cases of sex trafficking
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12 cases of labor trafficking
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4 cases of sex and labor trafficking
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9 cases where the form of trafficking was not identified
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49 identified traffickers
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16 identified trafficking businesses