Stats

• Recent estimates show that over 40 million people are victimized by human trafficking around the world, trapped in forced labor and sexual exploitation. Victims are both women and men of every age, and can be found in every country in the world, in every state in the U.S., and in every county in Wisconsin. (United Way, 2018)
• Women and girls are disproportionately affected by human trafficking, accounting for 71% of all victims. (ILO, 2017)
• 3.8 million adults are trafficked for forced sexual exploitation and 1.0 million children are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. (ILO, 2017)
• According to the Polaris National HT Hotline, they were able to identify 22,326 Victims of Human Trafficking in 2019. Of those 22,326 victims, 14,597 were sex trafficked, 4,934 were labor trafficked, 1,048 were sex and labor trafficked and 1,747 were not specified.
• Polaris also provided a report recording the top three sex trafficking types: 1,278 under escort services, 1,247 under illicit massage, health and beauty, and 733 under pornography. The top three labor trafficking types are: 218 under domestic work, 108 under agriculture and animal husbandry, and 107 under traveling sales crews. 
• Sex trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. It is a $150 billion dollar criminal industry and will soon be ranked number one in the world, even above trafficking of guns and drugs. Think about it…. A weapon or drug can be sold once and has to be replaced. A human being can be sold multiple times a day, several days per week and the profit is incredibly large. 
• 1 in 6 runaways will likely become a victim of child sex trafficking. Traffickers prey upon the vulnerable populations and runaway and throw-away youth are incredibly vulnerable. Those with low self esteem, prior sexual or physical abuse, negative relationships with their families, etc. make the perfect targets for traffickers.
• 89% of sexual advances directed at children occur in internet chatrooms or through instant messaging apps.