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In 2023, the number of registered victims of trafficking in human beings in the EU was 10 793. There were 8 471 suspected traffickers and 2 309 convicted traffickers. 

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the registered victims of human trafficking were women or girls. Meanwhile, less than a quarter of suspected and convicted traffickers were women (24% and 23%, respectively). 

Among the registered victims whose form of exploitation was reported, there were 4 201 victims trafficked for sexual exploitation (43.8% of all victims), 3 457 victims trafficked for forced labour (36.0%) and 1 937 victims trafficked for other purposes, such as organ removal, benefit fraud, criminal activities, forced begging and others (20.2% of all trafficking victims).  

There was a notable increase in the number of registered victims trafficked for forced labour or services. Between 2008 and 2018 the share of these victims stood between 14% and 21% and from 2019 onwards the share was between 28% and 41%.

Forms of exploitation for registered victims of trafficking in human beings in the EU, 2008-2023, number of registered victims. Charts. see link tot he full dataset below.

Source dataset: crim_thb_vexp

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Methodological notes

  • Trafficking in human beings, as defined in the article 2 of the Directive 2011/36/EU is a grave violation of human rights, a crime against the person, the goal of which is the exploitation of the person. Trafficking does not require the crossing of borders and can have many exploitative purposes.
  • Forms of exploitation for registered victims: the form of exploitation was not reported for all registered victims of trafficking in human beings. Also, more than one form of exploitation can be recorded for a single victim.
  • The number of persons reported to be involved in trafficking in human beings can widely vary across the EU, even relative to population size, due to different approaches to reporting data by the police, prosecutors and court systems, different levels of transposition of the Directive across the EU countries and different criminal justice responses to trafficking in human beings. 
  • Registered victims include persons who have been identified by the relevant formal authority or by other national and non-national authorities.
  • Data on victims, suspected traffickers and convicted traffickers show totals for responding countries. As some EU countries had not reported data for some years, the observed trend has to be interpreted with caution.

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