Key Findings

• Author: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (European Commission)
• Pages: 17-18

STUDY O N THE ECONO MIC, SOC IAL AND H UMAN COST S OF TRAF FICKIN G IN HUMAN B EINGS WI THIN THE E U 17

KEY FINDINGS

The cost of traffic king in human beings is borne by the pu blic because the crime persists . These are the cos t of

extra public s ervices, divert ed and thereby lost economic outp ut, and the value of the lost qual ity of life. Without

trafficking t hese extra ser vices would not be needed, economic out put would not be diver ted, and the q uality of

life would be higher. The losses are t o EU society. Trafficking is a drain o n the resource s of everyone, except

the trafficker s who extrac t great profit s from this crimina l exploitation .

People traffic ked for all forms of exploitat ion suffer violence an d coercion: physica l violence, sexual v iolence

and threats. These generate hurt s to physical healt h and to mental h ealth. These hur ts to health g enerate

costs to societ y: extra use of public services in cluding law enforcement, specialise d services, health services an d

social protect ion; lost economic output ; the value of lost quality of life; and th e co-ordination of anti-traff icking

prevention work .

The cost of traff icking in human bei ngs in 2016:

• per victim, over th eir lifetime: EUR 312 756 in the E U-28 (EUR 337 462 per v ictim in EU-27)

• in total for the EU -28: EUR 3 700 524 433 (EUR 2 70 8 804 838 for EU -27)

This is a conservat ive estimate: The e stimate is based on the number of vict ims registered wit h the authorities

in Member States of th e EU in 2016; it would have been higher if vict ims not registered wit h the author ities had

been included; it wo uld have been higher if robus t data were available on so me additional harm s.

Three main ty pes of costs of traff icking in huma n beings:

• use of services (coordinat ion and prevention , specialised ser vices, law enforcement , health serv ices and

social protect ion): 40% in EU -28 (42% in EU-27)

• lost economic out put: 19% in EU -28 (18% in EU-27)

• lost quality of life: 41% in EU-28 (40% in EU-27)

Coordination an d prevention act ivities at EU and Me mber State (MS) levels :

• per victim was EU R 2 059 in the EU-28 (EUR 2 9 49 for EU-27)

• in total: EUR 24 35 6 744 in the EU-28 (EUR 23 6 70 826 for EU-27).

Law enforcement:

• per victim was EU R 93 293 in the EU-28 (EU R 105 827 for EU-27),

• in total EUR 1 103 8 41 971 in the EU-28 (EUR 849 476 554 i n EU-27)

Specialised services:

• per victim was EU R 9 614 in the EU-28 (EUR 11 355 in EU-27)

• in total: EUR 113 750 742 in the E U-28 (EUR 91 149 042 in EU-27)

Health services a nd social protec tion:

Victims of traff icking were more likely to use hea lth services an d social protect ion than other pe ople because

of the long-term da mage to their physica l and mental healt h while in traffic king. These hur ts and increased use