North Korea Leads as Global Slavery Hits 46 Million

The Global Slavery Index, created by the Walk Free Foundation, measures the presence of slavery by country in 167 nations. Based on its definition, North Korea has by far and away that largest portion of its population who live in “modern slavery.” No other nation is close.

The organization gave an overview of its new edition:

In the third edition of the Index, an estimated 45.8 million people are subjected to some form of modern slavery. The Index ranks the 167 most populous countries; their combined populations equalling 99 percent of the total world population. This research incorporates data from standardised nationally representative random sample surveys on modern slavery, including forced marriage, for 25 countries which represent about 44 percent of the world population.

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The portion of the North Korean population is extremely high:

Nearly one in 20 North Koreans are estimated to be in modern slavery. Though information on North Korea is difficult to verify, pervasive evidence exists that citizens are subjected to state-imposed forced labour within the country, where the government requires forced, uncompensated labour from workers, school children, and university students; and operates an extensive system of prison labour camps. There are reports that individuals are forced to work long hours in agriculture and the logging, construction, mining, and garment industries with harsh punishments for not meeting quotas

While the percentage of North Korea’s population that lives in slavery is 4.4% of its population, its absolute numbers are relatively small. Its population is 25 million. In terms of large absolute numbers, India ranks fourth on the list with a 1.4% rate against its 1.31 billion. Nearby Pakistan has a rate of 1.31% against its population of 189 million.

Among the balance of the top 10 as measured by slavery presence: Uzbekistan (3.97%), Cambodia (1.64%), Qatar (1.35%), Congo (1.13%), Sudan (1.13%), Iraq (1.13%) and Afghanistan (1.13%). The number of nations at 1.13% also include Syria, South Sudan, Somalia and Libya.

At the far end of the scale, nations that have virtually no “slaves” include Sweden, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Germany and the United States.

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