Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (Anti-trafficking Directive) lays down, in Articles 19 and 20, requirements for the Member States to gather and report on statistics on trafficking in human beings.

The European Commission, with the support of Eurostat, has been collecting and making available EU-wide data on trafficking in human beings from the Member States since 2013, covering a period of 10 years, from 2008 to 2018. The first results of the data collection were published in the Eurostat statistical working paper in 2013 for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010; followed by the 2014 edition (updated in 2015) covering the periods 2010, 2011, 2012. The European Commission carried out a lighter data collection for the first Commission Progress Report on trafficking in human beings for the period 2013-2014. The 2018 study Data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU (‘Data Study’) complemented the publication of the Second European Commission Progress report and covered years 2015-2016.

This report provides the results and findings of the fifth EU-wide data collection on trafficking in human beings in the EU and analysis of the criminal justice statistical data for the years 2017-2018.

Data was collected from the 28 EU Member States in the reference period on the number of registered (presumed and identified) victims of trafficking in human beings and on the number of traffickers who were suspected, pros- ecuted or convicted, taking into account their sex, age, citizenship and the forms of exploitation. Criminal justice data was also collected with regard to the use of services exacted from victims, in particular as to suspects, prosecutions and convictions and additional breakdown by sex and age.

The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. The reference period for this report is 2017-2018, while the UK was an EU Member State. The study therefore includes data on the United Kingdom. Where data significantly changes the EU-level picture, additional data analysis is provided for the EU-27 and EU-28. Most of the graphs contained in the different sections show figures for the EU-28; however, when the comparison between the EU-27 and EU-28 is particularly relevant to illustrate, graphs providing figures for the EU-27 are included.

This data collection has been carried out as a coordinated effort between the national rapporteurs and/or equivalent mechanisms on trafficking in human beings and the European Commission, Eurostat and the relevant national statistical authorities.