Philosophy : Global Slavery per capita

I've heard it said that there are more slaves in the world today than ever before. I believe it. But how does the per capita global slave rate compare to previous years? I'd like to think we're a few hairs of a percent down from what we used to be per capita, enlightenment and all

It's difficult to say. I think there definitely have been times when the per capita number of slaves has been higher. For example if we take the time around 1840 (chosen because for this time I've been able to find at least some data) there were

- abut 2.5 million slaves in the US
- about 8-9 million slaves in India (slavery was abolished in 1843)
- about 1 million slaves in Southeast and Central Asia

That makes about 12 million slaves which would amount to about one percent of the world population at the time (about 1.2 billion) as opposed to about 0.4 percent today (it has been estimated that there are up to 29 million slaves today). Of course my 1840 estimate only took into account a few selected regions and the global number of slaves was likely much higher.

The difference isn't very big, though. It seems plausible that at some points in history even the per capita number of slaves might have been lower that it is today (after the last of the slaves resulting from the transatlantic slave trade were freed for example) but it's also plausible that it hasn't been. In fact I think it's even plausible that the claim that there are more slaves today than ever in absolute terms is false as well.

The estimates I've given for 1840 are examples of institutionalized slavery. If we add to this what we usually consider to be slavery today, such as human trafficking, sex trade etc. as well as geographical regions that I didn't take into account it's quite plausible that the figure might triple or be larger still.

There just doesn't appear to be good data on global historical rates of slavery. At least none that I was able to find.

Great answer. Thanks.

Yeah, awesome, thanks. I considered doing the research, but then realized that I am lazy and easily bored.

she went underwater to climb in the shark so she could keep warm & drink its blood

---

Yeah, awesome, thanks. I considered doing the research, but then realized that I am lazy and easily bored.

---

Yeah, I'm generally the same. However, fortunately I am also quite thick so I tend to be able to squeeze in some research before I realize that I'm lazy and easily bored.

---

I've heard it said that there are more slaves in the world today than ever before. I believe it.

---

I don't doubt that, but the laws defining slave labor today are much more strict compared to slavery in past centuries. For instance, Brazil has very strict labor laws with lots of benefits for the employees, making legal workers very expensive. There are many sweatshops, farms, etc, employing foreigners from poorer south-american countries that are considered slaves under brazilian labor laws, but they don't consider themselves slaves and even like the job, because they get better paid and have better working conditions than in their own country.

Do have to wonder what you see as the philosophical dimension here

she went underwater to climb in the shark so she could keep warm & drink its blood

There aren't a whole lot of topics, as I see it, that can't be philosophically linked in some meaningful way. In this case slavery over the millennia could be looked at as a study of ethics over time perhaps. You're right though. It's a wee bit of a stretch.

Which "we"?