• Each year, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men,
women, and children are trafficked across international
borders (some international and non-governmental
organizations place the number far higher), and the
trade is growing (U.S. Department of State, Trafficking
in Persons Report. Washington, D.C., 2004).

 
• Of the 600,000–800,000 people trafficked across
international borders each year, 70 percent are female
and 50 percent are children. The majority of these
victims are forced into the commercial sex trade (U.S.
Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report.
Washington, D.C., 2004).

 
• Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign
nationals are trafficked into the United States. The
number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country
each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000
American children at risk for trafficking into the
sex industry. (U.S. Department of Justice, Report to
Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S.
Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
in Fiscal Year 2003. Washington, D.C., 2004).

 
• The largest number of people trafficked into the United
States come from East Asia and the Pacific (5,000 to
7,000 victims). The next highest numbers come from
Latin America, Europe, and Eurasia, with between
3,500 to 5,500 victims from each

(U.S. Department of Justice, Health & Human Services, State, Labor,
273 Notes Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the U.S. Agency
for International Development. Assessment of the
U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in
Persons. Washington, D.C., 2004).

 
From National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at
Missingkids.com: Andrea J. Sedlak, David Finkelhor, Heather
Hammer, and Dana J. Schultz. U.S. Department of Justice.
“National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview” in
National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway,
and Throwaway Children. Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs,
U.S. Department of Justice, October 2002, page 5.

 
The U.S. Department of Justice also reports:

 
• 797,500 children (younger than eighteen) were reported
missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting
in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing
each day.

 
• 203,900 children were victims of family abductions.

• 58,200 children were victims of non-family abductions.

• 115 children were victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping.
(These crimes involve someone the child does not know
or someone of slight acquaintance who holds the child
overnight, transports the child fifty miles or more, kills
the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child
permanently.)