Human trafficking in the European Union surged in 2023, with nearly 11,000 registered victims — the highest recorded figure since 2008 — and a sharp rise in cases of forced labour and female victimisation, according to new data released by Eurostat.
A total of 10,793 victims of human trafficking were reported across the EU last year, marking a 6.9% increase from 2022. This translates to 24 registered victims per one million inhabitants, up from 23 per million the year before.
According to Eurostat, the countries with the highest rates of registered victims in 2023 were Luxembourg, Greece, the Netherlands, Austria, and Sweden, while Croatia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic reported the lowest rates. The agency noted that, “Higher rates could be linked to a greater capacity of the judiciary and social system to identify victims. This can be seen in Luxembourg, where previous efforts, including a proactive attitude by labour inspectors who participated in mandatory training courses on human trafficking, has contributed to the identification of more victims.”
Notably, human trafficking does not require border crossing and can involve numerous forms of exploitation. While sexual exploitation remained the most commonly reported form in 2023 — accounting for 43.8% of known cases — its share has been on a gradual decline since 2008.
Meanwhile, forced labour and services have seen a sharp increase. Between 2008 and 2018, the share of victims in this category remained between 14% and 21%, but since 2019 it has jumped to between 28% and 41%, reaching one of its highest levels in 2023.
Other exploitative purposes — including organ removal, forced begging, criminal activities, and benefit fraud — made up 20.2% of cases in 2023.
The vast majority of trafficking victims were women or girls, making up nearly two-thirds of the total. Their share increased by 0.5 percentage points from 2022, reflecting a consistent gender disparity in victimisation.
In terms of victim origin, 28% were citizens of the reporting country, 7.9% came from other EU nations, and 64.1% were from non-EU countries. Countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland reported mainly domestic victims, while Austria, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Italy, and Estonia reported that over 80% of victims came from outside the EU.
The report also revealed a 5% increase in the number of suspected traffickers, with 8,471 individuals identified in 2023. Convictions rose by 10.1% compared to 2022, with 15 out of 26 EU countries seeing more convicted traffickers.
However, men continue to dominate the ranks of traffickers. Only 24% of suspects and 23% of convicted traffickers were women.
