Research into the financial side of international criminal networks could force a rethink among those who say crime doesn't pay. Unsurprisingly, exact numbers are difficult to obtain, though it's well known that counterfeiting, drug trafficking and other forms of illicit trade yield enormous profits for criminals around the world every year.
Just how much? According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the real number could be absolutely staggering. It estimates that transnational organized crime makes profits as high as $870 billion every year, equivalent to 1.5 percent of global GDP. Brink recently published a list of 12 types of illegal trade compiled by Global Financial Integrity who arrived at a slightly lower figure than the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
It found that global drug trafficking yields $320 billion in revenue, while counterfeiting is worth a quarter of a trillion dollars to criminals around the world. Illicit trade has far reaching consequences including job losses, diminished tax revenue for governments and brutal conditions for those in forced labor.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
