Modern slavery in numbers

There are slightly less than 30 million people in slave labor conditions in the world (the ILO puts the figure at around 21 millions; see here). Most of them are in South Asia and Africa (see map below). By percentage of the population Mauritania and Haiti, followed by Pakistan and India, lead in this dreadful statistic.

By absolute numbers the main countries are India and China, for obvious reasons. The numbers are in the table below. The causes are obviously complex, but result ultimately of poverty, labor market informality and the inability to incorporate workers into the formal labor market. In addition, it is more prevalent in areas where national governments have little access, and as a result more likely in failed States.

The Global Slavery Index 2013 Report, where you can find the map and table shown above, is available here.