In India, the survey was conducted in 15 states. (Representational photo: Reuters)
A new report has revealed that more than 45 million men, women and children find themselves trapped in modern day slavery across the globe. Two thirds of them are in Asia, says the Global Slavery Index 2016.
Though North Korea has the highest percentage of its population among modern day slaves, at over four per cent, in terms of absolute numbers, India tops the list with more than 1.8 crore people, even though it's at number four in the list with 1.40 per cent of the population trapped in modern day slavery.
Uzbekistan and Cambodia are at number two and three respectively.
In terms of the proportion of population that is in this vulnerable category, India is ahead of countries like Sudan, Iraq, Malawi, Yemen, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
58 per cent of those living in modern day slavery are in just five countries, namely, India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
So what makes people vulnerable? It's a complex set of factors that range from sexual discrimination, presence or absence of rights, access to basics such as water, health, refugee status, financial inclusion, patterns of migration, conflict.
In India, the survey was conducted in 15 states in 2016 and it shows that domestic work, construction, farming, fishing, manual labour and the sex industry continue to be major areas of concerns when it comes to vulnerability to slavery.
The survey says the Indian government has started acting with both new laws and enforcement, complimenting its work but there is a need to do much more.