© AAMS Blog
An estimated 30 million people worldwide are currently living as slaves, according to the inaugural Global Slavery Index published Thursday, with India said to have the largest number of enslaved people, though African countries still had the highest proportional figure based on population.
The index, compiled by the
Walk Free Foundation (WFF), defined modern slavery to comprise of human trafficking, forced labour, and practices such as debt bondage, forced marriage, and the sale or exploitation of children; and found that slaves existed in all of the 162 countries surveyed.
"Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia," the report said, as cited by
Reuters.
"Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through 'marriage', unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education," the report added.
The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery were Mauritania (0.4 percent), Haiti (0.2 percent), Pakistan (0.012 percent), India (0.012 percent), Nepal (0.01 percent), Moldova (0.01 percent), Benin (0.01 percent), Ivory Coast (0.01 percent), Gambia (0.01 percent) and Gabon (0.01 percent).
In terms of total numbers, the countries with the most people in modern slavery were estimated to be India (13.95 million), followed by China (2.95 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).
