About 22,600 Romanians, or 0.11% of the country’s population, are currently living in modern slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index 2014, made by The Walk Free Foundation.

Modern slavery includes people who are subject to forced labour, sex trafficking, bonded labour, forced child labour, child soldiers, and involuntary domestic servitude, among others.

Romania ranks 95 of a total of 167 countries on the absolute number of people living in modern slavery. India has the most people living in modern slavery, more than 14 million, followed by China – 3.24 million, and Pakistan - 2 million. Russia comes fifth in the ranking, with about 1.05 million people enduring modern slavery. Iceland, Luxembourg and Ireland are the world’s countries where modern slavery is almost non-existent, ranking last.

In terms of the share of “modern slaves” in the country’s total population, Romania is ranked 139, with 0.113% of the population, which is one of the lowest rates among the countries in the region. In Poland, the rate is 0.187%, in Hungary and Czech Republic, it is 0.36%, and in Bulgaria, it is 0.38%.

However, Romania ranks lower than other countries in the region in terms of Government response to this social problem.

The 2014 Global Slavery Index estimates there are 35.8 million people living in some form of modern slavery globally. The country with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population is Mauritania, with a 4%.

The full report can be found here.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: World Vision Romania)