37 Little-Known Human Trafficking Facts

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer

Published September 20, 2016Updated March 31, 2025

There are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history._[5]
There are an estimated 27 million adults and 13 million children around the world who are victims of human trafficking._[5]
Human traffickers often use a Sudanese phrase “use a slave to catch slaves,” meaning traffickers send “broken-in girls” to recruit younger girls into the sex trade. Sex traffickers often train girls themselves, raping them and teaching them sex acts._[5]

People are often trafficked for their organs

Human trafficking not only involves sex and labor, but people are also trafficked for organ harvesting._[4]
Ludwig “Tarzan” Fainberg, a convicted trafficker, said, “You can buy a woman for $10,000 and make your money back in a week if she is pretty and young. Then everything else is profit.”_[5]
A human trafficker can earn 20 times what he or she paid for a girl. Provided the girl was not physically brutalized to the point of ruining her beauty, the pimp could sell her again for a greater price because he had trained her and broken her spirit, which saves future buyers the hassle. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year._[5]
Although human trafficking is often a hidden crime and accurate statistics are difficult to obtain, researchers estimate that more than 80% of trafficking victims are female. Over 50% of human trafficking victims are children._[5]
The end of the Cold War has resulted in the growth of regional conflicts and the decline of borders. Many rebel groups turn to human trafficking to fund military actions and garner soldiers._[4]

Many children are trafficked to serve in armed conflicts around the world

UNICEF estimates that 300,000 children younger than 18 are currently trafficked to serve in armed conflicts worldwide._[2]
Human trafficking is the only area of transnational crime in which women are significantly represented—as victims, as perpetrators, and as activists fighting this crime._[1]
Global warming and severe natural disasters have left millions homeless and impoverished, which has created desperate people easily exploited by human traffickers._[4]
Over 71% of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies._[5]
After sex, the most common form of human trafficking is forced labor. Researchers argue that as the economic crisis deepens, the number of people trafficked for forced labor will increase._[4]
Most human trafficking in the United States occurs in New York, California, and Florida._[5]
According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), over the past 30 years, over 30 million children have been sexually exploited through human trafficking._[4]
Several countries rank high as source countries for human trafficking, including Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, China, Thailand, and Nigeria._[5]
Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey, and the U.S. are ranked very high as destination countries of trafficked victims._[5]
Women are trafficked to the U.S. largely to work in the sex industry (including strip clubs, peep and touch shows, massage parlors that offer sexual services, and prostitution). They are also trafficked to work in sweatshops, domestic servitude, and agricultural work._[5]
Sex traffickers use a variety of ways to “condition” their victims, including subjecting them to starvation, rape, gang rape, physical abuse, beating, confinement, threats of violence toward the victim and victim’s family, forced drug use, and shame._[5]
Family members will often sell children and other family members into slavery; the younger the victim, the more money the trafficker receives. For example, a 10-year-old named Gita was sold into a brothel by her aunt. The now 22-year-old recalls that when she refused to work, the older girls held her down and stuck a piece of cloth in her mouth so no one would hear her scream as she was raped by a customer. She would later contract HIV._[5]
Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises because it holds relatively low risk with high profit potential. Criminal organizations are increasingly attracted to human trafficking because, unlike drugs, humans can be sold repeatedly._[4]
Human trafficking is estimated to surpass the drug trade in less than five years. Journalist Victor Malarek reports that it is primarily men who are driving human trafficking, specifically trafficking for sex._[3]
Victims of human trafficking suffer devastating physical and psychological harm. However, due to language barriers, lack of knowledge about available services, and the frequency with which traffickers move victims, human trafficking victims and their perpetrators are difficult to catch._[3]
Some human traffickers recruit handicapped young girls, such as those suffering from Down Syndrome, into the sex industry._[5]
Human trafficking is a global phenomenon that is fueled by poverty and gender discrimination._[4]
Human traffickers often work with corrupt government officials to obtain travel documents and seize passports._[3]
Women and girls from racial minorities in the U.S. are disproportionately recruited by sex traffickers in the U.S._[5]
Japan is considered the largest market for Asian women trafficked for sex._[3]

Pregnant women are increasingly targeted for human trafficking

Human traffickers are increasingly trafficking pregnant women for their newborns. Babies are sold on the black market, where the profit is divided between the traffickers, doctors, lawyers, border officials, and others. The mother is usually paid less than what is promised her, citing the cost of travel and creating false documents. A mother might receive as little as a few hundred dollars for her baby._[4]
Due to globalization, every continent of the world has been involved in human trafficking, including a country as small as Iceland._[4]
Many times, if a sex slave is arrested, she is imprisoned while her trafficker is able to buy his way out of trouble._[5]
Today, slaves are cheaper than they have ever been in history. The population explosion has created a great supply of workers, and globalization has created people who are vulnerable and easily enslaved._[5]
Human trafficking and smuggling are similar but not interchangeable. Smuggling is transportation based. Trafficking is exploitation based._[5]
Brazil and Thailand are generally considered to have the worst child sex trafficking records._[4]
Human trafficking victims face physical risks, such as drug and alcohol addiction, contracting STDs, sterility, miscarriages, forced abortions, vaginal and anal trauma, among others. Psychological effects include developing clinical depression, personality and dissociative disorders, suicidal tendencies, Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome._[5]

Africa's AIDS epidemic has increased human trafficking rates for orphaned children

The AIDS epidemic in Africa has left many children orphaned, making them especially vulnerable to human trafficking._[5]
According to the U.S. State Department, human trafficking is one of the greatest human rights challenges of this century, both in the United States and around the world._[5]