GENEVA, Switzerland, May 11 (UPI) -- The Switzerland-based International Labor Office says at least 12.3 million people are trapped in forced labor around the world.
The ILO's survey of global labor conditions found nearly 10 million people exploited through forced labor in the private economy, rather than imposed directly by states. Of these 10 million, the study estimates a minimum of 2.4 million to be victims of human trafficking.
The report also estimates profits generated by the exploitation of trafficked women, children and men are $32 billion each year, or an average of $13,000 from every single "trafficked forced" laborer.
Of the overall total, some 9.5 million forced laborers are in Asia, which is the region with the highest number; 1.3 million in Latin America and the Caribbean; 660,000 in sub-Saharan Africa; 260,000 in the Middle East and North Africa; 360,000 in industrialized countries; and 210,000 in "transition" countries.
In Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, trafficked labor comprises less than 20 percent of all forced labor, while in industrialized and transition countries and in the Middle East and North Africa, trafficked labor comprises more than 75 percent of the total.
