This data story presents key characteristics from the Global Victim Dataset of just over 32,000 victims with Europe as their region of origin. Most data is shown at the regional level, and there are some key statistics for the ten countries within the region where the largest amount of data is present. The subset mainly comprises data from IOM's counter trafficking activities, and therefore some data is largely reflective of IOM's programming within the region. Regions and sub-regions are defined according to the official UN classification.

TYPE OF EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS

GENDER OF VICTIMS

Over half of victims from Europe are victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, while most of the remainder are victims of trafficking for labour exploitation.
Among identified cases of victims from the region of Europe there is a higher proportion of female victims, at 70%.

ADULTS AND CHILDREN

REGION OF EXPLOITATION OF VICTIMS

Notably, just over four fifths of victims from the region of Europe are adults, and there is a lower proportion of children than in the wider Global Victim Dataset.
Over 90% of identified victims from Europe are exploited in Europe, representing the intra-regional nature of trafficking.

GENDER AND AGE OF VICTIMS

Reflecting the distribution of identified male and female victims of trafficking from Europe, the genders are not equally distributed across ages. There is is an almost equal proportion of males and females in the younger children's categories and from ages 36-56, however in all other categories there is a much higher proportion of females.

MEANS OF CONTROL USED ON ADULTS

MEANS OF CONTROL USED ON CHILDREN

Traffickers use many means of controlling their victims, and each victim can be subject to several means of control during the course of their trafficking experience.
Children trafficked from Europe are controlled more through forms of abuse such as psychological, physical and sexual than adult victims.

MARITAL STATUS

Almost half of victims from Europe are single, while almost a third are married.

EDUCATION LEVEL

Almost a third of victims from Europe have technical training, while just over 40% have completed only middle or high school education.

SECTOR OF WORK FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING FOR LABOUR EXPLOITATION

RECRUITER RELATIONSHIP

By far the most common sector of work for victims of labour exploitation from Europe is construction. There is also a high proportion of victims who are trafficked into manufacturing and agriculture.
The majority of identified victims were not recruited by someone close to them.

SUBREGION OF ORIGIN

Within available data, which mostly comes from the IOM caseload, almost all victims come from Eastern Europe, with less than 3% from Southern Europe and very few from either Western or Northern Europe.

DURATION OF TRAFFICKING

Around 80% of victims from Europe were trafficked for between 0-1 years. From there, the frequency for number of years trafficked decreases steadily, with the longest recorded trafficking duration for a victim of trafficking at 27 years.

GENDER DISTRIBUTION IN COUNTRIES WITH LARGEST DIRECT ASSISTANCE CASELOAD

AGE DISTRIBUTION IN COUNTRIES WITH LARGEST DIRECT ASSISTANCE CASELOAD

EXPLOITATION TYPE DISTRIBUTION IN COUNTRIES WITH LARGEST DIRECT ASSISTANCE CASELOAD