Poverty is one of several factors that make individuals vulnerable to trafficking. While trafficking victims come
from a range of backgrounds, including from economically privileged families, trafficking is linked inextricably
with people with a lack of resources, notably job opportunities. Living in poverty is a harsh reality to escape
from and people become desperate enough to enter into fraudulent employment schemes or be deceived into
prostitution. Traffickers target people who have few economic opportunities and those struggling to meet basic
needs.
With over 35% of the world’s population living on less than $2.00 a day, 2.5 billion children, women and men
are at risk for human trafficking.2
Poor parents, promised that their child will be educated, fed and treated well,
may send their child, sometimes in exchange for money, with a person the parents trust. Parents may feel forced
to sell one child so that the others may eat. At times, a child may be sold out of payment for a parent’s debt
(bonded placement,) particularly in societies where it is socially acceptable for children to work. In the United
States, vulnerable people may be recruited from homeless shelters.3