Study finds that more than 1 million people in Russia live as modern day slaves

On November 17, 2014, the Walk Free Foundation, an Australian-based human rights group, released its latest slavery index. Estimated number of people in modern slavery globally is 35.8 million, with 61% of them living in India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

For the second year in a row, India was found to have the greatest number of slaves in the world, at 14.3 million people. Top five countries with the biggest numbers of people living in conditions tantamount to slavery:

1. India (an estimated 14.29 million enslaved people)
2. China (3.24 million enslaved people)
3. Pakistan (2.06 million enslaved people)
4. Uzbekistan (1.2 million enslaved people)
5. Russia (1.05 million enslaved people)

The criteria used by the Walk Free Foundation takes into account the number of people born into servitude, trafficked for sex work, trapped in debt bondage or exploited for forced labor. The index defines slavery as the control or possession of people in such a way as to deprive them of their freedom with the intention of exploiting them. "From children denied an education by being forced to work or marry early, to men unable to leave their work because of crushing debts they owe to recruitment agents, to women and girls exploited as unpaid, abused domestic workers, modern slavery has many faces," the report said.

Five countries are appearing in the Global Slavery Index for the first time: Taiwan, South Sudan, North Korea, Kosovo and Cyprus.

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