According to statistics of the European Union, about 500.000 women are annually being forced into prostitution in Western Europe ( also see the United Nations` Development Programme for 1999 ) The majority of those women come from Eastern Europe.
It`s only possible to estimate those figures; exact figures can only be stated, when traffickers are being arrested and brought to court. In Germany there were in 2005 317 legal proceedings with 614 proved victims of trafficking. In only 23 cases, the traffickers earned a sum of 1.160.000 Euro.
The German Federal Criminal Authorities estimate, that a woman forced into prostitution will have a turnover of 35.000 – 100.000 Euro per year.
Traffickers earn the highest profits by abusing trafficked people as workforce or prostitutes. The International Labour Organization ( ILO ) estimates that worldwide every year 2,4 million people become victims of traffickers, who earn with their victims 32 Billion Dollar per year.
Highest profits are being made with sexual exploitation. The ILO estimates that a women, forced into prostitution, in an industrial country, earns an annual average of 67.200 Dollar.