The non-governmental organization "Walk Free" released a troubling report that says nearly 29.8 million people across the globe are enslaved, CBS News reported.
In the Global Slavery Index 2013 -- the first report of its kind -- researchers claim that slavery exists in 162 countries, including the United States, Canada, and Western countries.
"What slavery is ... what slavery's always been; It's about one person completely under the control of another person, and violence being used to maintain that control and the whole point of that control being exploitation," said Kevin Bales, Walk Free researcher and professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull, U.K.
"The rule of thumb is that if a person cannot walk away, even into a worse situation, because they literally have no free will and no free movement... those are the criteria that have been used to define slavery all throughout history," Bales added.
The research also says that the highest rates of slavery are found in South Asia -- specifically in India, China, and Pakistan.
"You go to those countries and it's not so difficult to witness it because there are simply so many people in slavery," Bales said. "There are plenty of families in South Asia who say, 'Well, you know my family has always belonged to this family.' They don't even have any memory of not being in slavery."
Bales added that most slaves aren't transported from their home country to another -- it is most commonly within their own surroundings.
"Most people in slavery aren't shipped into other countries; they're enslaved in their own countries," he said, "and there, what you can count on is that they're enslaved at the very bottom of the ladder. So it's low-grade agriculture, it's derivative work, like mining, timbering, brick-making. Dirty, dangerous, demeaning kind of work [is] where you're going to find the most."
The report does not give a specific number regarding the amount of children enslaved, but Bales has previously spoken about his discovery of child slaves throughout his research.
"I've seen kids who are three (years old) in slavery, in quarries ... [in] Pakistan and India. I've seen kids enslaved as servants in West Africa and East Africa, Southeast Asia," he told CBS.
Despite the disturbingly high numbers, Bales said that slavery remains on the decline.
"The amount that slaves contribute to the global economy and what they put out ... is a minute fraction of the global economy," he said. "We're actually living at a moment where slavery's been pushed right to the edge of its own extinction in terms of economic value to the planet."
