30 million people living in slavery globally: WFF Report.

30 million people living in slavery globally: WFF Report.(Presstv).

A report by an international foundation on modern slavery has revealed that nearly 30 million people are enslaved across the globe.

The index released by the Walk Free Foundation (WFF) on Thursday said the slaves are either trafficked into brothels, forced into manual labor, fall victims to debt bondage, or are even born into servitude.

Almost half of these people are in India, where "by far the largest proportion of this problem is the exploitation of Indian citizens within India itself, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labor," the survey found.

The index also showed that aside from India, the problem is most rampant in the West African country of Mauritania, where four percent of the population is estimated to be held in slavery.

The report by the Australian-based group described Mauritania as a nation with "deeply entrenched hereditary slavery," where "people in slavery may be bought and sold, rented out and given away as gifts."

Benin, Gambia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Nepal are among other countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery, the report said.

The WFF index ranked 162 countries on the number of people living in slavery, the risk of enslavement, and the strength of government action to counter the illegal activity.

Figures indicate human trafficking along with arms dealing is the second largest industry in the world after drug dealing.

The countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery were Mauritania, Haiti, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Moldova, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Gabon. Moldova - once part of the Soviet Union - was the only European nation in the top 10.

Grono said the inherited slave status was "very shocking"."In Mauritania, kids are born into slavery," he explained."Women and men are enslaved and their children are often forced into a situation of domestic servitude or forced to work in the fields."

Russia came 49th, China 84th, United States 134th, France 139th and Britain joint bottom on 160.

In terms of total numbers, the countries with the most people in modern slavery were estimated to be India (13.95 million), followed by China (2.95 million) and Pakistan (2.1 million).

The report estimated that 72 per cent of people in modern slavery live in Asia. In India, "by far the largest proportion of this problem is the exploitation of Indian citizens within India itself, particularly through debt bondage and bonded labour", the report said.

The estimated 2.9 million people in modern slavery in China "includes the forced labour of men, women and children in many parts of the economy, including domestic servitude and forced begging, the sexual exploitation of women and children, and forced marriage," said the report.

Among the top 10, the WFF said Moldova and Ivory Coast were working hard to address the issue, but efforts in the top three -- Mauritania, Haiti and Pakistan -- are "token at best and non-existent at worst", the report said.Read the full story here.