According to the report, about 2.2 million (10 percent) are in state-imposed forms of forced labor, for example in prisons, or in work imposed by the state military or by rebel armed forces.

Victims are frequently drawn from minority or socially excluded groups, as is the case in many parts of South Asia, Africa and Latin America. Many are migrant workers or poor seasonal workers, who move from rural to urban areas, or between distant regions or provinces, in search of work. 

Women and girls represent the greater share of the total – 11.4 million (55 percent), as compared to 9.5 million (45 percent) men and boys. Adults are more affected than children – 15.4million (74 percent) of victims fall in the age group of 18 years and above, whereas children aged 17 years and below represent 5.5 million child victims of the total (26 percent) 

Beate Andrees, head of the ILO's Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labor, said the attention should now turn to better identification and prosecution of forced labor and related offences such as human trafficking.

“The successful prosecution of individuals who bring such misery to so many remains inadequate – this needs to change. We must also ensure that the numbers of victims does not rise during the current economic crisis where people are increasingly vulnerable to these heinous practices.”

The majority of bonded laborers are in Asia and Latin America. They pledge their labor against a loan or a wage advance. An accident or sickness can oblige workers to borrow more money, which plunges them into a vicious cycle of indebtedness, passing the debt from generation to another.

The Asia-Pacific region has the largest number of forced laborers in the world – 11.7 million (56 percent) of the global total.

The second highest number is found in 

Africa ranks second in world, with about 3.7 million people (18 percent), followed by Latin America with 1.8 million victims (9 percent).

The Developed Economies and the European Union (DE & EU) have 1.5 million (7 percent) forced laborers while countries of Central, Southeast and Eastern Europe (CSEE) & Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) account for 1.6 million (7 percent). There are an estimated 600,000 (3 percent) victims in the Middle East.

The relatively high prevalence of forced labor in CSEE and CIS is attributed, according to the ILO report, to the regions’ comparatively smaller populations. 

There are 9.1 million victims (44 percent of the total) who have moved either internally or internationally while the majority, 11.8 million (56 percent), are subjected to forced labor in their place of origin or residence. 

Cross-border movement is heavily associated with forced sexual exploitation, according to the ILO report.

By contrast, a majority of forced laborers in other activities, and almost all those in state-imposed forced labor, have not moved from their home areas. “Movement can be an important vulnerability factor for certain groups of workers, but not for others,” ILO said in the report.

“Today’s figures are a more robust estimate of the magnitude of forced labor, based on a better methodology and a higher number of data sources,” Andrees said.

“However we are very far from the ideal situation where countries do their own direct measurement. The ILO has a role to play in strengthening their capacities to embark on such a difficult task,” she added.

Questions of forced labor and human trafficking are closely intertwined with migration in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf States where there is a high proportion of migrant workers compared with national populations.

Recent years have seen a steady increase in reporting on issues related to human trafficking and, to a lesser degree, forced labor in the region, as well as adoption of new laws against trafficking. In the process, more attention has been drawn to problems that previously were seldom in the public eyes. 

One of the main concerns centres on the lack of adequate safeguards against abuses in the recruitment and employment of migrants for temporary work. These migrants are often from Asia. 

Some of the abusive practises include confiscation of passports and personal documents, restriction of freedom of movement, denial of leave, non-payment of wages and overtime work and long working hours. 

The harshest conditions are in the construction and garment industries.

Besides, some reports suggest that the “Kafeel” (sponsors) system for temporary contract workers is conductive to force labor and trafficking. 

Other problems include altered contract terms and high recruitment fees. A survey in Pakistan found that migrants who signed contracts before leaving were presented with new ones upon arrival in the Gulf in which the wages were about 10 per cent lower than originally promised. 

In response to these problems, government in the region have been working with the ILO to promote fundamental principles and rights at work and improve systems of migration governance.

Some positive steps have been taken by some countries. Jordan has set up a special hotline for migrant domestic workers, and the United Arab Emirates provided policies for criminal sanctions against sponsors who abuse their position with such workers.