30 million people are slaves, half in India: Survey

New Delhi, Oct 17: A worldwide

conducted by the global index of modern

on Thursday revealed that 30 million people across the world are enslaved out of which half of them are in

.

The survey was carried out in 162 countries by an Australian-based rights group, Walk Free. The slavery conditions include forced manual labour, trafficking, victims of debt bondage and commercial sex exploitation.

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), almost 21 million people are victims of forced labour.

According to Reuters report, the Global Slavery Index 2013 has defined slavery as the "possession or control of people to deny freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, usually through violence, coercion or deception".

The index also ranks nations by prevalence of slavery per head of population.

After India (13.9 million), China has the most with 2.9 million, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000), Ethiopia (651,000), Russia (516,000), Thailand (473,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (462,000), Myanmar (384,000) and Bangladesh (343,000).

The index also ranks nations by prevalence of slavery per head of population.

After Mauritania and Haiti, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon have the next highest prevalence rates.

OneIndia News