European Commission
European Commission
Directorate-General of Migration and Home Affairs (2018 data)
DG HOME: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs. European Commission, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, Belgium
+32 2 299 11 11 (European Commission switchboard)
29/07/2019
The European Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims requires all EU Member States to establish an effective system for the collection of data and assessment of the trends in human trafficking. In accordance with the Directive, the 2015 edition of the Eurostat Statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings and the Data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU report published by the European Commission in 2018 compile data on trafficking of human beings:
Data collections in these three reports follow the same methodology. The data from the three reports have been collated by EIGE and are shown in the same indicators on trafficking in the section on trafficking in EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database.
Specific classification systems have been used to identify victims and traffickers. Data on victims are disaggregated by forms of assistance received, sex, residence permit and forms of exploitation. Data on traffickers were disaggregated by suspected, prosecuted and convicted traffickers, with further breakdowns by sex and forms of exploitation for each category. While the data collections provided harmonised definitions of these categories, national definitions differ across Member States.
For more details on classification systems used for each data collection, see relevant section in the report:
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The following statistical concepts and definitions were used for data collection. For a more exhaustive list, see the Statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings and the report on Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU.
Victim - refers to any natural person who has been identified or presumed to be subjected to trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 4 The Directive 2011/36/EU on prevention and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims.
Received assistance - refers to victims of trafficking in human beings who received assistance including Accommodation, Medical and Psychological Assistance, Legal Assistance, Education, Training (vocational and business), Job placement, (re)Integration Assistance, Return Assistance and Others.
Sex of victims - data were collected on the total number of female and male victims of trafficking in human beings. In addition, data on transgender victims is included in the metadata in the report, and/or is included under "other” gender.
Residence permit granted - refers to trafficking victims who received a residence permit based on the Council Directive 2004/81/EC.
Forms of exploitation - data on victims were disaggregated by Sexual exploitation, Forced Labour, Domestic Servitude, Forced Begging/Use for Begging, Criminal Activities, Removal of Organs, Benefit Fraud, and Others (such as Forced Marriages, Illegal Adoptions, Selling of Children). Data in EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database uses “Other”, which aggregates exploitation related to Domestic Servitude, Forced Begging/Use for Begging, Criminal Activities, Removal of Organs, Benefit Fraud, and Others.
Trafficker - refers to persons (male or female) who are either suspected, prosecuted or convicted of trafficking human beings using various forms of exploitation.
Suspected trafficker - refers to persons brought into formal contact with the police/criminal justice system suspected for trafficking in human beings.
Prosecuted trafficker - refers to persons against whom legal proceedings have been initiated by the prosecuting authorities in respect of trafficking in human beings.
Convicted trafficker - refers to persons who have been declared guilty of trafficking in human beings by the verdict of relevant legal authority.
Sex of trafficker - data were collected on the total number of female and male individuals involved in trafficking, whether suspected, prosecuted or convicted.
The statistical unit is the number of persons identified as victims, the number of persons suspected and prosecuted as traffickers and the number of convictions for trafficking.
Data covers all registered victims of trafficking (both identified and presumed) as well as suspected, prosecuted and convicted traffickers.
The Eurostat statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings included data from the 28 EU Member States as well as Iceland, Norway, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, and Turkey.
The First Progress Report and the report on data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU include data from all 28 EU Member States.
The Eurostat working paper on Trafficking in human beings covers data from years 2010 to 2012.
The report on data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU covers data from years 2015 to 2016. It also includes 2014 data for some indicators where updates were collected for indicators previously populated for 2013 and 2014 as part of the First Progress Report. 2013 data from the First Progress Report is only included where data was disaggregated by sex, i.e.:
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Number of persons.
Data on trafficking of human beings across EU Member States are currently collected every other year, however the most recent report (2018) identifies a need for collecting data annually.
The European Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims requires all EU Member States to provide data on trafficking in human beings to the European Commission.
Results are disseminated through official reports. The statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings published by Eurostat, the Data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU report disseminated by the DG HOME EU anti-trafficking coordinator and the First Progress Report and the report on data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU from the European Commission to the European Parliament are accessible by all types of users.
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There is no scheduled release calendar.
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Data are disseminated to all types of users via the European Commission website:
There is no fixed frequency of dissemination.
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The European Commission released five reports containing data on trafficking in human beings across the EU Member States. The reports were published in the specified year:
Only results of the 2015, 2016 (where data was disaggregated by sex) and 2018 reports are included in EIGE’s Gender Statistics Database as they use the same data collection methodology and contain sex-disaggregated data.
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Documentation on methodology including specification on provision of data by each country is explained in the report on Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU and the Statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings.
See section 11.1.
Data on trafficking in human beings are collected from national authorities providing data recorded by various national sources who have come into contact with victims and traffickers. To ensure high quality of statistics, central research organisations and national authorities carried out data validity checks at several stages of data collection and processing such as involvement of experts in designing the data collection questionnaire, and the checking of different totals or incorrect summations. The 2018 report includes an Annex with any subsequent technical adjustments made.
For specific quality assurance measures carried out in each country, see:
Data on trafficking in human beings need to be viewed bearing in mind the inherent differences between the definitions of key concepts and data collection methods in each country. Quality of data is ensured through validation checks and cooperation between central research organisations and national authorities collecting data from relevant sources. To the extent possible, the data are comprehensive (cover relevant sources keeping records of victims and perpetrators of trafficking) and complete (cover all 28 EU Member States as well as other countries i.e. in the Eurostat statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings).
As a result of validation checks and other quality assurance measures in the data collection and processing stage, the following issues were addressed during the preparation of the 2018 report on Data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU:
See the technical annex included in the 2018 report for information on how the abovementioned issues were addressed.
Data on victim and perpetrator of trafficking allows for an understanding of the nature, extent and cost of the crime to facilitate evidence-based policy-making at the EU-level, address emerging trends and measure the impact of initiatives to eradicate this phenomenon.
No user satisfaction surveys are carried out.
Completeness of data is a challenge across the three data collections included here. Countries are, to different extents, unable to provide data for all indicators. As a result, none of the indicators are complete for all years.
In principle, data on victims and perpetrators of trafficking accurately reflects the situation in each country, although the coverage is restricted to administrative data provided by relevant national sources which are in turn restricted to the quality of data collection processes in place. This could potentially impact the overall accuracy of the data.
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While there is no fixed timeline for publication of data, typically, data have been published within two to four years after the reference period.
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Data on trafficking in human beings can be considered comparable between countries but it is necessary to bear in mind there are inherent differences between national definitions and the data recording procedures vary between (and within i.e. between the data sources) countries.
In general, the 2015, 2016 and 2018 data collections are comparable. Nevertheless, it is necessary to bear in mind the differences between coverage over time. The 2018 report provides data on a wider range of indicators than the 2015 paper on trafficking in human beings. Furthermore, not all Member States have been comprehensive in provision of data, which could affect comparability over time.
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Internal coherence of the data (e.g. through time or across countries) is ensured through careful application of common methodology (i.e. the data collected for 2015, 2016 and 2018 reports followed the same approach) and validation checks performed by central research agencies to verify data received from each country adhere to methodological guidelines.
Information on cost burden is not available but the data collection method shows there was some burden on countries:
There is no fixed policy on data revision. If additional information leads to a change in the data, then update is made in the next published report.
There is no fixed revision schedule.
The 2015 edition of the Eurostat statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings, is a revised edition of the working paper published in 2014. This paper includes additional data from Italy concerning the number of people who were prosecuted or convicted for trafficking in human beings.
The 2018 report on Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU includes revised data from 2014 for each indicator previously included in the 2016 Progress Report.
Data on trafficking of human beings are a form of administrative data, derived from the records kept by various sources in each country, including the police, NGOs, immigration authorities, border guards and other national sources.
Biennially (every two years).
Data for both reports (published in 2015 and 2018) were collected by relevant national authorities using a questionnaire. Detailed guidelines on data collection provided contained advice on how to avoid double counting, given data were gathered from various sources. The questionnaire also contained detailed instructions on how to include data on key characteristics of victims and traffickers such as forms of assistance, sex, forms of exploitation, etc.
For the statistical working paper on trafficking in human beings, the questionnaire was sent by Eurostat to National Statistics Offices of the countries in August 2013. The questionnaire included tables to insert data, a list of common indicators, definitions and guidelines for compiling data, in addition to country codes and templates for formulating metadata.
For the report on data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU, the questionnaire was developed by DG HOME/EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator. This was sent to the national statistical authorities on 10 July 2017, with support from National Rapporteurs and Equivalent Mechanisms (NREMs) and Eurostat.
Statistical working paper on Trafficking in human beings:
Eurostat carried out validation checks on data received by all national authorities and requested clarifications where appropriate, to improve data quality.
Report on Data collection on trafficking in human being in the EU:
Collected and processed data were validated by national authorities then analysed by the external contractor of DG HOME/EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator. Issues identified at the stage of analysis were addressed through further cooperation between DG HOME/EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator and national authorities.
Data on the number of registered victims of human trafficking per 100,000 inhabitants for 2014-2016 was calculated at EIGE by dividing the population estimates for the 1st January from ‘Eurostat: Population on 1 January by age group and sex’ by 100,000 to obtain the quotient, and then dividing the number of victims by the quotient.
Data were compiled in such way to continue the format of indicator on victims by 100,000 population (reported in the 2015 report), rather than victims by 1,000,000 population (reported in the 2018 report), and to calculate this by sex as this ratio is not provided in the 2018 report. The result for the total may be slightly different than the result reported in the 2018 report. This is due to Eurostat’s population data receiving revisions after it was used in the 2018 report, which EIGE has included here.
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