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Global overview

I

47

profit. The families exploiting domestic help in Africa or 
housing 

restavek 

children in the Caribbean are benefiting 

from the labour of these children. The debt bondage 
schemes behind some West African or East Asian traffick-
ing networks are leveraging the migration dream of the 
victims to exploit them in forced labour or in the com-
mercial sex market. Trafficking in persons is motivated by 
profit maximization and organized by traffickers trying 
to maximize benefits and minimize costs. The higher the 
profits, the greater the economic incentives to conduct 
the trafficking crime. 

There are always economic gains involved in exploiting 
people, domestically or abroad. At the same time, exploit-
ing them in relatively richer countries (in relation to the 
origin country) is economically more advantageous 
because the services the traffickers demand from the vic-
tims have a higher monetary value there.

In the case previously discussed, about a local national 
exploiting his girlfriend on his own in Canada, the author-
ities estimated that this trafficker profited about 
US$180,000 during the 8 months of the victim’s exploi-
tation in the commercial sex market. This means that the 
trafficker was able to earn on average $750 per day 
through this exploitative business. In Denmark, the 
national authorities reported that a victim from a country 
in the Balkans who was forced into sexual exploitation by 
two compatriots earned them at least $50,000 over 18 
months. The exploitation of the 11 South-East Asian vic-
tims who were trafficked to Australian brothels lasted for 
some two years and resulted in a net profit of between 
US$55,000-65,000, at a minimum. Such amounts would 
be all but impossible to earn from prostitution in poorer 
countries. The authorities in the Philippines have reported 
that victims of sexual exploitation in the Philippines were 
forced to serve their clients for a price of US$10-20 per 
time. The same price level was reported by the Chilean 
authorities. 

Although the data is scarce and anecdotal, it is nonetheless 
clear that the business of sexual exploitation is more prof-
itable if operated in richer countries. This is also illustrated 
by the fact that the prices traffickers pay for women to 
exploit in the sex industry varies in line with whether the 
trafficking is conducted in richer or poorer countries. 
According to information provided by the Japanese 
authorities, the price of women in trafficking in persons 
cases ranges around US$20,000. In Slovenia, the authori-
ties reported values around $4,000. In Argentina, the price 
for a woman to be exploited in commercial sex ranges 

around $400.

20

 The price of women may not only be a 

direct function of the profit potential as the perceived risk 
associated with carrying out the crime also plays a role, as 
does the demand for sex services. Nonetheless, broadly 
speaking, the richer the country, the higher the profits the 
exploitation business can generate, and the more the 
exploiter is willing to invest for a victim to be exploited 
there.

The same logic applies to trafficking for labour exploita-
tion. The average legal salary of a labourer in the construc-
tion industry in the United States is about US$2,200 per 
month.

21

 In Central America, such work is legally remu-

nerated at $60, on average, per month, and farmers in the 
same area are paid around $30 per month.

22

 Even when 

selling the work of his or her victims for half of the legal 
salary, the margins the Central American traffickers will 
be able to generate by exploiting fellow citizens in the 
construction sector in North America are far higher than 
in the origin countries, particularly when the living costs 
are reduced to the minimum by providing sub-standard 
conditions. Thus Central American traffickers want to 
move their victims and exploit them in North America 
where the profits can be much higher. 

There are also significant differences in the values of the 
labour markets in Central Europe or the Balkans in com-
parison to Western European countries. According to legal 
standards, a labourer in agriculture or in the construction 
sector may be paid around 250 euros per month in the 
Balkans, 100 euros in Eastern Europe and 1,500 euros in 
Western Europe.

23

 While traffickers do not assess where 

to traffic their victims on the basis of legal salary levels, 
such levels nonetheless give an indication of the value of 
the labour extorted from the victims of trafficking in dif-
ferent countries, and thus, where it is more economically 
profitable to exploit the victims.

The previously discussed Canadian case of the well-organ-
ized criminal group exploiting Central European victims 
in forced labour is illustrative. The victims were forced to 
work long hours in the construction sites in Canada; made 
harder by living under the threat that their families may 

20  The GDP per capita for these countries was: Japan: US$38, 492 

(2013); Slovenia: $22,059 (2012); and Argentina: $14,760 (2013). 
(World Bank, World Development Indicators, GDP per capita in 
current US$). 

21  See International Labour Office (ILO), LABORSTA database on 

wage statistics, available at: http://laborsta.ilo.org/STP/guest.

22 Ibid.

23 Ibid.

GLOBAL REPOR

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TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 

2014

48

have suffered violence back in Europe. The revenues 
derived by the work of these victims were kept by the traf-
fickers, and the value of their labour was much higher 
than it would have been in Central Europe, about five 
times more.

24

 Also, the investments of traffickers are lim-

ited to one-off travel costs of victims and local cost of 
living (minimized by forcing the victims to live in inad-
equate accommodation). As a consequence, the profits 
the group generated by exploiting the victims in Canada 
were much higher than what could have come from 
exploitation in their origin countries. However, the traf-
fickers miscalculated the risks and are now facing jail sen-
tences in Canada. 

The picture is similar in the case of the six victims from 
the Balkan area who were exploited in forced labour in 
the cleaning sector in Austria. The authorities calculated 
that the work of each victim generated profits of about 
2,000 euros per month for the traffickers. The exploita-
tion continued for eight months until the victims were 
rescued and the traffickers arrested and later convicted. 
This exploitative business guaranteed the traffickers at 
least 100,000 euros in total. If the same exploitative busi-
ness had been conducted in the Balkans, the revenues 
would have been ten times less than those generated in 
Austria.

25

The services provided by the victims, whether he or she 
is exploited in forced labour, domestic servitude or sexual 
exploitation, are sold at higher prices in richer countries 
where the demand for such services and labour is also 
higher

. 

Also, richer countries may offer some ‘advantages’ 

to the traffickers in terms of the victims’ potentially 
increased vulnerability to control and coercion, as factors 
such as language and migration status (often illegal) may 
prevent victims from reporting to national authorities. 

For these reasons, as shown in the section on trafficking 
flows, the rich regions of the world attract more transre-
gional trafficking than the poorer parts of the word. A 
positive correlation between the gross domestic product 
(GDP) per capita and the share of transregional traffick-
ing shows that richer countries have larger shares of such 
trafficking, and this is true also when the analysis focuses 

24  According to ILO LABORSTA (op.cit.), the average monthly pay for 

a laborer in the construction industry in Canada was around 2,000 
euros per month for the period considered.

25  According to ILO LABORSTA, the monthly pay for a laborer in the 

Balkans for services in hotels and restaurants was around 220 euros 
per month for the period considered.

on individual regions, or when controlling for develop-
ment levels.

26

This does not mean that there is less trafficking in poor 
countries, or that the victims exploited in poor countries 
suffer less. Poor countries may attract more or fewer vic-
tims than richer ones. However, in poorer countries, the 
geographical scope of the trafficking is usually limited to 
domestic or subregional trafficking, while the richer coun-
tries see victims trafficked in from a larger number of 
origin countries from different regions. The ‘global north’ 
attracts victims from all over the world. Traffickers in 
poorer countries have an economic interest of moving 
victims there - to Western Europe, North America or the 
Middle East - while there is little to gain from moving 
victims in the opposite direction. 

In addition to economic factors, there are also other con-
ditions that have an impact on the directions of trafficking 
flows. These include issues related to job markets, migra-
tion policy, regulation, prostitution policy, legal context 
and law enforcement and border control efficiency. As 
indicated before, to traffic victims internationally is com-
plicated and may involve significant risks depending of 
the measures implemented by countries along the traf-
ficking route. Relatively few traffickers are able to organize 
themselves well enough to conduct effective transregional 
trafficking activities.

A trade-off between organization 
and profits

A statistical analysis of the data on victims detected 
between 2010 and 2012 shows that geographical proxim-
ity between a country of origin and a country of destina-
tion is strongly correlated with the intensity of the 
trafficking flows between them, also in rich parts of the 
world.

27

 In general, the closer two countries are, the more 

victims are trafficked along the flow between them. 

The same data show that another factor to consider in 
relation to cross-border trafficking flows is organized 
crime. A correlational analysis between the level of organ-

26  The share of the victims trafficked from outside of the region of detec-

tion for the period 2010-2012, and the GDP per capita for the year 
2011 show a significant and strong positive correlation (pearsons coeff 
0.729; sign 0.000).

27  An analysis of variance (ANOVA) among the shares of citizenships of 

foreign victims of trafficking detected at destination divided in two 
groups, victims from within the region and from outside the region, 
shows trafficking from within the region is more than three times 
higher than transregional trafficking. 

Global overview

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49

FIG. 25: 

Correlation between the share of transregional trafficking victims detected and GDP 
per capita, recorded in the countries of destination  

Source: UNODC elaboration on national data.

ized crime

28

 measured at the origin country level, and the 

share of citizens of these countries detected in the major 
destinations of transregional trafficking (Western Europe, 
North America and the Middle East) proved significant 
and positive.

29

 This means that the higher the prevalence 

of organized crime in the origin countries, the more vic-
tims of these origin countries are detected in the major 
destinations.

28  Measured by the Composite Organized Crime Index (COCI) (Van 

Dijk, J., 

The World of Crime, 

Sage Publications, 2008, pp. 162-167) 

and the organized crime perception index referring to the year 2013 
of the World Economic Forum (Schwab, K., 

The Global Competitive-

ness Report 2013–2014, 

World Economic Forum, 2013).

29  For Western and Central Europe, the share of the citizenships among 

victims of cross border trafficking for the period 2010-2012, and 
the Organized Crime Index COCI register a significant and positive 
correlation (pearsons coeff 0.577; sign 0.000), confirmed by using 
the World Economic Forum perception index 2013 (pearsons coeff 
-0.402; sign 0.000). For North and Central America, the share of the 
citizenships among victims of cross border trafficking from outside 
of the region for the period 2010-2012, and the Organized Crime 
Index COCI register a significant and positive correlation (pearsons 
coeff 0.379; sign 0.007), confirmed by using the World Economic 
Forum perception index 2013 (pearsons coeff -0.302; sign 0.014). 
When intraregional trafficking is considered this last one is stronger 
(pearsons coeff -0.742; sign 0.001). For the Middle East, the share 
of the citizenships among victims of cross border trafficking for the 
period 2010-2012, and the Organized Crime Index COCI registers a 
significant and positive correlation (pearsons coeff 0.564; sign 0.000), 
and it is much stronger if single regions of origin are considered.

It is important to note that these results only refer to cross-
border trafficking. This statistical link does not exist 
between domestic trafficking and organized crime. 
Domestic trafficking happens everywhere, and it seems 
to be unrelated to the level of organized crime.

The relationship between organized crime and cross-bor-
der trafficking flows is also confirmed by linear regressions 
that combine these indicators. The origins of cross-border 
trafficking towards North America, Central America and 
the Caribbean is an exponential function of the level of 
organized crime in these origin countries.

30

 The more the 

origin countries are affected by organized crime, the more 
outward trafficking there is from these countries towards 
North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Compared to the results emerging for North and Central 
America and the Caribbean, a stronger relationship is 
found between organized crime and the origins of traf-
ficking towards Western and Central Europe. The higher 

30  ‘TiP to N.Am’: Origins of cross border trafficking detected in North 

and Central America and the Caribbean, in terms of share of victims 
detected by citizenship detected there. ‘OCWEF’ : Organized Crime 
Perception Index measured by the World Economic Forum in Schwab, 
K. 

The Global Competitiveness Report 2013–2014, 

World Economic 

Forum. Linear regression: Ln(TiP to N.Am)= -610*OCWEF-2.882. 
(Rsq. : 0.111; Sig.0.041; OCWEF Sig 0.041; Cost Sig 0.031). 

South Africa

Bahrain

United Kingdom

Qatar

Canada

Costa Rica

Israel

Finland

United Arab Emirates

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

GROSS D

O

ME

STIC

 P

R

ODUC

T

 PE

R C

A

PITA

  (

2

011)

Share of victims detected originating from outside the region

GLOBAL REPOR

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TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 

2014

50

the origin country’s level of organized crime, the more 
victims who are citizens of that country are detected in 
these parts of Europe. The relationship is significant for 
intra-regional trafficking (considering only origin coun-
tries in Western and Central Europe), and transregional 
trafficking (considering only non-European origins traf-
ficked to Western and Central Europe).

31

The presence of organized crime alone cannot explain why 
certain trafficking flows originate from certain countries 
and are directed towards other countries, but statistics 
show that such presence may cause a significant part of 
the flows. 

Broader discussions of cross-border trafficking flows, simi-
larities and analytical suggestions can be found within the 
field of migration studies. The Gravity Models of Migra-
tion

32

 consider the spatial mobility of a population as an 

interaction between two territorial units. 

The Gravity Models of Migration theorized that migra-
tion flows between two countries is a function of the 
demographical power of the countries of origin and des-
tination; the larger the populations, the more intense the 
migration flow between the two countries. The model also 
states that the more distant the two countries, the less 
intense the flows between them, thus geographical prox-
imity is an inverse function of population mobility. This 
is in line with the statistical results described in the first 
paragraph of this section. 

This intuitive finding was later elaborated upon by other 
social scientists who, considering different intervening 
factors, developed more complex migration gravity 
models, aimed at explaining the migration flows between 
two territories.

33

It is possible to apply the basic gravity model to human 
trafficking flows if the model includes the organized crime 
factor. Considering the cross-border flows detected in 
Western and Central Europe between 2010 and 2012, 
about half can be explained by the population sizes of the 

31  ‘TiP to Eu’: Origins of cross border trafficking detected in West-

ern and Central Europe, in terms of share of victims detected by 
citizenship detected there. COCI, Van Dijk, op. cit. Linear regres-
sion for intra-regional trafficking: Ln(TiP to Eu)= 0.075*COCI-
11.304 - (Rsq. : 0.470; Sig: 0.000) - COCI (Sig 0.000); Cost (Sig 
0.000). Linear regression for trans-regional trafficking: Ln(TiP to 
Eu)= 0.091*COCI-9.627 - (Rsq. : 0.435; Sig: 0.002) - COCI (Sig 
0.002); Cost (Sig 0.000).

32  Stewart, J. Q., 

An inverse distance variation for certain social influences, 

Science, 93, 1941: 89-90.

33  Ibid; Haynes, K. E., and Fotheringham, A. S., 

Gravity and Spatial 

Interaction Models, 

Sage Publications, 1984.

countries of origin, by the distance of these countries to 
the destination countries, and by their levels of organized 
crime.

34

 The larger the population, the closer to the des-

tination areas, and the more organized crime within the 
origin country, the bigger the trafficking flow from that 
country towards Western and Central Europe. 

This analysis shows that human trafficking flows are also 
determined by organized crime applied to the migratory 
context. It is clear that this model just explains 50 per cent 
of the cross-border trafficking flows. Elements such as 
criminal justice and institutional responses, as well as 
socio-economic factors, should be considered in order to 
have a complete mapping of the determinants of traffick-
ing flows. 

In summary, the results of a qualitative analysis of some 
of the court cases, in combination with a statistical analysis 
of the profile of the victims detected in the 128 countries 
considered in this Report, suggest that domestic and traf-
ficking between geographically proximate countries are 
common forms of trafficking globally. These forms are 
characterized by relatively small numbers of victims who 
are trafficked within one country or between neighbour-
ing countries and they do not usually need much organi-
zation. The investments and profits are limited and they 
are often organized by one or a few traffickers; for exam-
ple, a couple. 

The same analysis also shows that when regional or tran-
sregional trafficking flows do occur, they generally move 
from poorer towards richer countries, where the profits 
from the exploitative business are normally much higher 
than in the poorer countries. The number of victims traf-
ficked from richer towards poorer countries is very lim-
ited. In these cases, as a general pattern, traffickers in the 
origin country are citizens of that country and in the des-
tination country they are either citizens of the destination 
country or fellow citizens of the victims, or perhaps both, 
working in coordination to exploit the victims.

Another characteristic of longer distance trafficking oper-
ations is that they tend to involve several victims who need 

34  ‘TiP to Eu’: Origins of cross border trafficking detected in Western 

and Central Europe, in terms of share of victims detected by citizen-
ship detected there. ‘COCI’ : Composite Organized Crime Index 
measured by Van Dijk 2010. ‘Dist to EU’ : the geographical distance 
between the countries of origins and the geographical Centre of West-
ern and Central Europe. ‘Pop’; the population size of the countries 
considered; The multivariate regression for cross border traffick-
ing is the following; Ln(TiP to Eu)= 0.656*COCI+0.3*Ln(POP)-
0.624*Dist to EU. (Rsq. : 0.464; Sig: 0.000) - COCI (Sig 0.000); 
Dist to EU (Sig 0.000); POP (Sign 0.037); Cost (Sig 0.000).

Global overview

I

51

to cross one or more borders. This means that they also 
require significant skills, capital and organization, partic-
ularly when the border crossing is restricted. When such 
operations are successful, it is usually because they are run 
by a large, transnational and well-organized criminal net-
work. A sizable criminal organization is able to traffic 
more victims across longer distances and towards more 
profitable destinations, and to exploit them there for a 
longer period of time. 

On this basis, a typology of three different trafficking types 
can be drawn up. The types have some features in common 
as the categorizations are broad. Few trafficking cases 
belong squarely in one category. This typology – which 
can be tailored to local circumstances – can be helpful in 
understanding the organization of trafficking in persons 
and what are some of the common features of this crime. 

THE RESPONSE TO TRAFFICKING 
IN PERSONS

Legislation on trafficking in   
persons:

 Progress, but many people 

remain without full legislative protec-
tion

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking 
in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which sup-
plements the United Nations Convention against Trans-
national Organized Crime, entered into force in December 
2003. The impact of the Protocol on the national legisla-

tive responses around the world has been very strong. In 
November 2003, almost two thirds of countries did not 
have a specific offence that criminalized trafficking in per-
sons, or even just some forms of this crime. At the end of 
the year 2006, three years after the Protocol entered into 
force, this share had dropped to 28 per cent. Now, in 
2014, 5 per cent of countries do not have specific legisla-
tion that criminalizes trafficking in persons.

As of August 2014, of the 173 countries considered for 
this analysis, 146 (85 per cent) criminalize all aspects of 
trafficking in persons explicitly listed in the UN Traffick-
ing in Persons Protocol. 

About 10 per cent of the covered countries have partial 
legislation. These countries do criminalize trafficking in 
persons specifically, but their legislation may only cover 
some victims (for example, only children, women and/or 
foreigners) or certain forms of exploitation (for example 
sexual exploitation).

5 per cent of the countries considered (9 of 173) do not 
have any offence in their legislation that specifically crimi-
nalizes trafficking in persons, or even just some forms of 
it. It is likely that instances of trafficking may be prose-
cuted in these countries by leveraging other articles of the 
criminal code, such as slavery, forced labour, pimping, 
child stealing or others (which may also happen in coun-
tries that have specific legislation on trafficking in per-
sons). However, it is very unlikely that these instruments 
are tailored to address the issue of victim assistance. More-

TABLE 1: 

Typology on the organization of trafficking in persons

SMALL LOCAL OPERATIONS

MEDIUM SUBREGIONAL OPERATIONS 

LARGE TRANSREGIONAL OPERATIONS 

Domestic or short-distance trafficking 
flows.

Trafficking flows within the subregion or 
neighboring subregions.

Long distance trafficking flows involving 
different regions.

One or few traffickers.

Small group of traffickers.

Traffickers involved in organized crime.

Small number of victims.

More than one victim.

Large number of victims.

Intimate partner exploitation.

Some investments and some profits 
depending on the number of victims.

High investments and high profits.

Limited investment and profits.

Border crossings with or without travel doc-
uments.

Border crossings always require travel  
documents.

No travel documents needed for  
border crossings.

Some organization needed depending on 
the border crossings and number of victims. 

Sophisticated organization needed to move 
large number of victims long distance.

No or very limited organization required.

Endurance of the operation.