Almost 10,000 registered victims of human trafficking were recorded across the EU in 2024, alongside nearly 8,000 suspected traffickers and about 2,600 convicted traffickers.
The total number of registered victims was 9,678 in 2024, while 7,966 suspected traffickers and 2,599 convicted traffickers were recorded, Eurostat announced on Thursday.
Women and girls accounted for 63% of registered victims.
Less than a quarter of suspected traffickers were women (24%), and women made up 21% of convicted traffickers.
Among cases where the type of exploitation was reported, 4,219 victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation, representing 46% of all registered victims.
A further 3,391 victims were trafficked for forced labour, or 37% of the total, while 1,487 were trafficked for other purposes such as organ removal, benefit fraud, criminal activities and forced begging.
Forced labour share rises compared with earlier years
The share of registered victims trafficked for forced labour or services increased compared with earlier periods, Eurostat said.
Between 2014 and 2018, forced labour accounted for between 14% and 21% of registered victims, while from 2019 onwards it ranged from 28% to 41%.
