You're reading: Ukraine is 86th according to global modern slavery index 2013, say Australian-based rights group

Ukraine is the 86th country in the world according to the number of enslaved people per thousand of its citizens, BBC Ukraine reported, referring to the survey conducted by the Australian human rights activists.

"The authors of the survey write that in absolute terms, from 110,000 to 120,000 people live in Ukraine under the slavery conditions," reads the report.

According to the research, about thirty million people are enslaved worldwide.

Russia is 49th in the rating, since up to 540,000 people live there as virtual slaves – victims of debt bondage, forced into manual labor. According to the absolute number of the victims of forced labor, Russia is the sixth in the world after India, China, Pakistan, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Besides, about 35,000 slaves live in Moldova, putting this country sixth in the global index – above all other former republics of the Soviet Union.

Almost half of the world’s slaves live in India, where slavery ranges from bonded labor in quarries and kilns to commercial sex exploitation. It is fourth in the rating of 162 countries. But the most critical slavery problem exists in Mauritania. It is the worst, with almost 4 percent of its 3.8 million people enslaved.

At the other end of the scale are Luxembourg, Sweden and Finland, which have no slaves at all.

The world rating was carried out by Australian human rights organization Walk Free Foundation, which worked together with the international human rights protection organizations, research institutes and scientists.

The Global Slavery Index 2013 defines slavery as the possession or control of people to deny freedom and exploit them for profit or sex, usually through violence, coercion or deception. The definition includes indentured servitude, forced marriage, the abduction of children to serve in wars, trafficking into brothels, forcing people into manual labor, debt bondage or even birth into servitude.