The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery provides a picture of the scale and depth of modern slavery. The Global Estimates is the result of a collaborative effort between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Walk Free, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

It focuses on two main issues, forced labour and forced marriage, and includes break-downs by region, age group and gender. The findings reveal that on any given day in 2016, 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery, with 24.9 million people in forced labour and 15.4 million people in forced marriage.

The Global Estimates was produced using data from 54 specially designed, national surveys. They were drawn from interviews with more than 71,000 respondents from across 48 countries, administrative data from the IOM and data from ILO sources. The resulting estimates have a global and regional focus, unlike Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index which examines the scale of modern slavery at a country-level.

The Global Estimates is a contribution to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Target 8.7, which calls for effective measures to end all forms of forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour in all its forms. It is intended to be used as a baseline to assess global progress toward meeting Target 8.7 and related SDG targets, particularly those on violence against women and girls. Our goal is to provide the world’s most comprehensive measurement of modern slavery on a global and regional level.