At a Glance

It is difficult to state facts and figures with certainty, due to the clandestine nature of this crime. But to the best of our knowledge, the estimates are as follows:

LOCALLY
  • A 2007 King County needs assessment identified 238 youth being commercially sexually exploited. From that study a prevalence number was determined that 300-500 youth are commercially sexually exploited in Seattle/King County each year
  • Youth who are clearly under the age of consent (16 in Seattle) are arrested for prostitution every day. In effect, criminalizing the youth for their own abuse and exploitation. This is referred to as the offender/victim status

NATIONALLY
  • A young trafficking victim typically lasts in the system for two to four years - after that, she often dies from drug or infection-related causes, is killed, or is abandoned by her exploiter
  • Sex trafficking is estimated to take in $9.5 billion per year in the United States
  • A sexually exploited minor working five nights a week, could over the course of five years find herself raped by 6,000 men
  • The average age for a youth entering prostitution in the United States in 12-13 years old
  • 90% of youth who have been commercially sexually exploited have some history of abuse, neglect, or sexual trauma
  • The issue of commercial sexual exploitation is widely estimated to effect 150,000 to 350,000 youth annually in the United States, and the US Department of Justice believes it can be upwards of 3 million. These figures include children involved in prostitution, child pornography and who have been trafficked into the United States
  • Youth are recruited from: transit areas such as bus stops and train stations, any place homeless youth congregate, group homes, shelters, youth drop-in centers, middle and high schools, malls and shopping centers, places that employ teens and, with increasing frequency, youth are recruited through the internet
  • It is believed that 1/3 of chronic runaway/homeless youth will have some brush with survival sex or prostitution. In urban centers runaway/homeless youth who have just arrived are approached by pimps and exploiters, often within 48 hours
  • Youth who are clearly under the age of consent (16-18 nationally) are arrested for prostitution every day. In effect, criminalizing the youth for their own abuse and exploitation. This is referred to as the offender/victim status
  • The UN estimates that trafficking in persons generates $7-10 billion annually for traffickers. Trafficking is the second most lucrative crime in the world, after the drug trade.
  • For boys and transgendered youth, the average age of entry into prostitution is 11-13
  • A 2001 report by the University of Pennsylvania estimated that about 293,000 American youth are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Most of these children are either runaways or have been abandoned by their families and live on the streets
  • Parental neglect and absence were often due to addiction to chemical and substance abuse dependency; 64% of girls in one study revealed one or both parents were addicted to drugs or alcohol


INTERNATIONALLY
  • Sex trafficking is estimated to take in $32 billion per year worldwide
  • An estimated 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. Eighty percent of those sold into sexual slavery are under 24, and some are as young as six years old
  • It is estimated that one third of the world's human trafficking takes place in 
    Asia, and 30% of those victims are children
  • 1995 estimates of the total revenue from prostitution in
Thailand is approximately 59-60% of the government’s budget for that year
  • 43% of trafficking victims have never been to school or only partially completed primary school 
  • The issue of commercial sexual exploitation is estimated to effect up to a million youth worldwide (however, it should be noted that no empirical measure has been devised that can validate that statistic with accuracy)
  • Between 50-90% of the children rescued from brothels in parts of South East Asia are infected with HIV
  • In 2003, the UN estimated that 1.2 million children are trafficked annually around the world. Their most recent global estimate dates from 1995 and concluded that one million children, mainly girls but also a significant number of boys, enter the commercial sex trade every year
  • There are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history
  • More than 30% of all trafficking cases in 2007-2008 involved children being sold into the sex industry


(National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Central Intelligence Agency, United Nations, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice, University of Pennsylvania, YouthCare, New York Times)
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