Last year, at least 868 cases of human trafficking were recorded in Germany, with about half of those affected originating from West African countries. However, the number of unreported trafficking cases is assumed to be significantly higher, as many foreign nationals caught up in trafficking will typically shy away from contacting authorities.

This is according to the Federal Coordination Group against Human Trafficking (KOK) -- an association of specialist counseling centers for victims of human trafficking and related criminal organizations in Germany, which uses its own tools to record trafficking activity.

According to Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, the numbers are somewhat lower: Criminal proceedings were pending in 650 trafficking cases in 2024, with 576 of those cases being closed the same year.

Most cases of human trafficking in Germany involve sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution, says KOK, with the vast majority of the cases involving females.

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German cases only a drop in the ocean

The number of trafficking cases prosecuted in Germany has been on the rise, with the 576 closed cases of 2024 marking a new record.

This compares to 509 cases, which were successfully closed in 2023.

In terms of foreign nationals, the main countries of origin for sex trafficking victims were China (55 cases), Bulgaria (53 cases) and Romania (47 cases).

The migration-related information platform and research service Mediendienst Integration said that roughly one third of all trafficking cases — including sex trafficking, labor trafficking and forced marriages — were made up of non-EU foreign nationals, another third of EU nationals and the final third of German nationals. 

According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Walk Free Foundation, there are around 50 million people affected by trafficking in 2023.

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Reluctance among victims to report traffickers

According to Mediendienst Integration, the actual number of victims is assumed to be much higher due to a number of possible reasons.

These reasons might include the fact that trafficking victims often do not recognize themselves as actual victims of exploitation; that they might be afraid to approach authorities, especially on account of legal issues such as having an uncertain residency status; and that they might be afraid of repercussions from their perpetrators.

A recent reportage on Germany's main daily public broadcasting news bulletin, Tagesschau, showed for instance that many Vietnamese apprentices coming to Germany disappear after a while, with the main assumption being that they were trafficked under the guise of attending training to begin with.

Another report on the public broadcaster rbb highlights the fact that some trafficked individuals do not wish to stop their state of exploitation — for instance because of drug addictions, which they can only finance by staying put in their state of dependency.

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