Global Modern Slavery Figures Reach 50 Million, Dwarfing Peak US Slave Population

A recent social media post by Lachlan Phillips, an individual identifying as "exo/acc 👾," has drawn attention to the stark reality of modern slavery, claiming that "there are more slaves today across modern day Africa and The Middle East than there were at any point in the US slave trade." This assertion underscores a critical global issue, prompting a comparison between historical and contemporary forms of human exploitation.

Data from the Walk Free Global Slavery Index reveals that an estimated 50 million people were living in situations of modern slavery on any given day in 2021. This encompasses various forms of exploitation, including forced labor, forced marriage, debt bondage, and human trafficking. The report highlights that Africa and the Arab States are among the regions with the highest prevalence of modern slavery, with Africa experiencing 7.6 victims per 1,000 people and the Arab States 3.3 per 1,000. Countries like Nigeria, with 1.6 million, and Türkiye, with 1.3 million, are noted for their large absolute numbers of people in modern slavery.

Historically, the peak number of enslaved people in the United States occurred in 1860, immediately prior to the Civil War, when approximately 4 million individuals were held in bondage. While the transatlantic slave trade forcibly brought around 400,000 to 600,000 Africans to the US over centuries, the enslaved population grew significantly through natural increase. The tweet's comparison points to the sheer scale of current global exploitation.

Modern slavery is driven by complex factors including conflict, environmental degradation, democratic decline, and the economic impacts of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Vulnerabilities related to migration, such as those exacerbated by the "kafala" sponsorship system prevalent in some Middle Eastern countries, also contribute significantly to forced labor and other forms of exploitation. Eritrea and Mauritania are cited in the Global Slavery Index as having particularly high rates of modern slavery prevalence.

Phillips' tweet, stating "Crying for ghosts from a liberated sanctuary, while the souls of real living human beings suffer under the subjugation of despots, and religious fundamentalists. Total moral inversion," reflects a perspective that current suffering from modern slavery is often overlooked in favor of historical injustices. The statistics indeed indicate a pervasive and ongoing crisis that demands urgent global attention and action.