Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States. It is estimated that human trafficking generates many billions of dollars of profit per year, second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of 
transnational crime.
Polaris, a nonprofit that tracks trafficking in the U.S. and abroad, said 375 Ohio trafficking cases were reported from 1,352 calls to the national hotline last year. That compares to 289 cases based on 1,070 calls in 2015. The 2016 numbers reflect a nearly four-fold increase over the figures from 2013.
Nationally, Polaris reported a 35-percent increase to 8,042 human trafficking cases in 2016. The most commonly cited situations in Ohio where trafficking was reported were traveling sales crews, restaurants, health and beauty businesses and agriculture.
Ending human trafficking in the US will happen through prevention, combating demand, the rescue of victims, and providing safe refuge for the restoration of survivors.
Learn more by downloading the human rights first factsheet Human Trafficking by the Numbers here.
