LONDON (AP) — Modern slavery is most prevalent in North Korea and other repressive regimes, but developed nations also bear responsibility for it because they import $350 billion worth of goods that are produced under suspicious circumstances, according to research released Thursday. 
 
 The Global Slavery Index estimates 40.3 million people worldwide were subjected to modern slavery in 2016, with the highest concentration in North Korea, where one in 10 people lived under such conditions. 
 
 "This index makes us visible," North Korean defector Yeon-mi Park, who escaped to China where she was trafficked and forced into marriage, said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. 
 
 "Over 40 million people ... they are not numbers. It could be anyone. It was me. It was my mother. It was my sister," she said. "Even now, there are 300,000 North Korean defectors in China, and 90 percent of them are being trafficked. They are being sold by Chinese men for a few hundred dollars." 
 
 Park, who is now studying at Colombia University in New York, urged people everywhere to help the millions of victims of modern slavery. 
 
 "These people simply were born in the wrong place, and that's why they're being punished for — their birthplace," said Park, who has founded a group help North Korean trafficking victims. 
 
 The report was compiled by the Walk Free Foundation, an anti-slavery campaign founded by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, who said at the New York press conference that "for the first time there is real hope we can end modern slavery." 
 
 The goal of the index is to pressure governments and companies to do more to end modern slavery by providing hard data on the numbers of people involved and the impact it has around the world. For example, modern slavery in developing nations puts jobs at risk in the U.S. and Western Europe because domestic goods compete against imports produced through "exploitation of the worst kind," Forrest told The Associated Press. 
 
 "By unraveling the trade flows and focusing on products at risk of modern slavery that are imported by the top economies, it becomes clear that even the wealthiest countries have a clear and immediate responsibility for responding to modern slavery both domestically and beyond their borders," the report said. "Developed economies are exposed to the risk of modern slavery not only when this crime is perpetrated within their national borders, but also when that risk is effectively transferred to them via the products they import." 
 
 Modern slavery involves the use of threats, violence and deception to take away people's ability to control their own bodies, to refuse certain kinds of work or to stop working altogether. 
 
 The report cites coal, cocoa, cotton, timber and fish as among the products that may be tainted by modern slavery. 
 
 In North Korea, coal exports are the area of greatest concern. 
 
 The index lists Eritrea, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Mauritania, South Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia and Iran as the worst offenders after North Korea. 
 
 Repressive regimes are of particular concern because their "populations are put to work to prop up the government," according to the report. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. ||||| The data on modern slavery includes situations of forced labor or forced marriage, but does not account for organ trafficking or the recruitment of child soldiers. 
 
 Between the lines: While conducting interviews with more than 71,000 people, Walk Free Foundation's researchers counted cases of slavery in the country where they were enslaved instead of their current residence. This led to much higher estimates in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France and other European nations compared to previous reports. 
 
 For example: In 2014, it was estimated there were 60,000 people in modern slavery in the U.S. on any given day. In 2016, that number was 400,000. 
 
 What to watch: Ivanka Trump has taken a personal interest in eradicating modern slavery, Forrest said, and spoke at the United Nations on the topic last year. Forrest hopes the report will convince President Trump to introduce a Modern Slavery Act, similar to what was passed in the U.K. in 2015. 
 
 It requires all businesses to publicly disclose what they are doing to stop the use of slave labor in their business and by their suppliers. 
 
 Quote We’d be hard pressed to go to the supermarket to find a tin of tuna or to buy clothes the we felt assured weren’t cut by the hands of those in modern slavery. 
 
 — Fiona David, an author of the report, to Axios 
 
 By the numbers: ||||| (CNN) A report on modern slavery around the world has found that the number of slaves in developed nations, including the United States and United Kingdom, is much higher than previously thought. 
 
 The Global Slavery Index is published annually by the Walk Free Foundation. Last year, the Walk Free Foundation worked with the International Labor Organization to produce a report that estimated there were 40.3 million slaves worldwide , but didn't give figures for individual countries. 
 
 In its new report, Walk Free Foundation is still using the 40.3 million figure, but says that improvements in its methodology mean it can estimate country-level figures more accurately than ever before: it now estimates that in the United States 403,000 people -- or 1 in every 800 -- are living in modern slavery, seven-times higher than it previously believed. 
 
 In the UK, it estimates there are 136,000 slaves, almost 12-times higher than previous figures. 
 
 The numbers contrast with UK government's most recent estimate that there were between 10,000 and 13,000 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK in 2013. There is no equivalent government figure for the US. 
 
 Dramatic increases 
 
 The Index defines modern slavery as an umbrella term that refers to "situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power, or deception." This incorporates various forms of slavery, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, child labor, and forced marriage. 
 
 Walk Free Foundation says the reason for the dramatic increases in its slavery estimates for some countries is that the latest report uses far more data sources than previously. 
 
 The figures draw on surveys carried out in 48 countries (nearly twice the number of countries as in previous years) and face-to-face interviews with 70,000 people. 
 
 "We're now measuring where a person was enslaved, as opposed to where they were interviewed or where we discovered their slavery," Walk Free Foundation founder Andrew Forrest told CNN. 
 
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 As a result, the slavery estimates for other countries, including Australia, France, the Netherlands and other European nations, have increased. However, the report notes that these countries are also those whose governments are doing most to tackle the problem. 
 
 For example, the report lists the US as a world leader in addressing forced labor in supply chains and the UK also requires business to report on the measures they are taking to tackle forced labor in their supply chains. 
 
 Forrest explained that the increased accuracy means the Index now estimates the number of slaves in a country today, whereas previously, its figures were for the number of slaves in a country over a five-year period. 
 
 The change in methodology also means that some countries have seen their slavery figures greatly reduced. Walk Free's estimates for the number of slaves in India, for example, has fallen to 8 million, from 18.4 million in its 2016 report. 
 
 North Korea has highest prevalence 
 
 The Index found that, as in its 2016 edition, North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world, with an estimated one in 10 people (2.6 million) forced to work. 
 
 It is followed by Eritrea, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Afghanistan, countries that the report notes suffer from conflict and oppressive regimes. 
 
 The Walk Free Foundation, a global human rights organization with a mission to end modern slavery in a generation, was founded by Australian philanthropists, Andrew and Nicola Forrest. 
 
 Some have criticized the methodology behind the Index, which extrapolates its figures based on various risk factors and a "Vulnerability Model." 
 
 Walk Free notes that, because of the changes to its methodology, the national slavery figures are not comparable with previous editions of the Global Slavery Index. 
 
 It says: "As such, while comparability from previous years is lost, the changes are justified by the need to continually improve our knowledge base." ||||| The report, by the Global Slavery Index, also estimates most victims live in Asia, with North Korea the highest globally 
 
 More than 400,000 people could be living in “modern slavery” in the US, a condition of servitude broadly defined in a new study as forced and state-imposed labor, sexual servitude and forced marriage. 
 
 What I learned from sex slavery survivors? Hope isn't easily crushed | Penny Jaye Read more 
 
 The Global Slavery Index, published on Thursday by Walk Free Foundation, describes modern slavery as a complex and often hidden crime that crosses borders, sectors and jurisdictions. The US number, the study estimates, is almost one hundredth of the estimated 40.3 million global total number of people it defines as being enslaved. 
 
 “The United States is one of the most advanced countries in the world yet has more than 400,000 modern slaves working under forced labor conditions,” said the group’s founder, Andrew Forrest, in a news release. 
 
 “This is a truly staggering statistic and demonstrates just how substantial this issue is globally. This is only possible through a tolerance of exploitation,” Forrest added. 
 
 The report estimates most victims of modern slavery live in Asia. North Korea has the highest prevalence of modern slavery globally, with one in 10 of the population, or 2.6 million people, victims of modern slavery. 
 
 A third, or 15 million, of victims of modern slavery enter through forced marriage, an issue that disproportionately affects women and girls. “Overall, the cultural practice of forced marriage places women at greater risk of exploitation, and the potential subjection to a life of servitude, financial bondage and sexual exploitation that comes with modern slavery,” the report said. 
 
 The report also argues the US figures are in themselves deceptive because the US exacerbates the global slavery problem by importing products, including laptops, computers, mobile phones, garments, fish, cocoa and timber, at risk of being produced through forced labor. 
 
 The group recommends making forced marriage illegal, creating a minimum marriage age of 18, a national database of trafficking and forced labor cases, and working to improve supply-chain transparency to help bring the US numbers down. 
 
 It estimates China is by far the largest source of at-risk goods, with the United States importing $122bn of electronics and clothing from the country. Vietnam was the second largest source with $11.2bn, and India third with $3.8bn. 
 
 Smaller values of goods were also sourced from Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Peru. 
 
 “There is no quick solution to this and governments, businesses, and consumers alike must wake up to the fact that they must change their behavior if they wish to tackle this abhorrent issue, both at home and abroad,” Forrest wrote. 
 
 Walk Free’s methodology includes extrapolation using national surveys, databases of information of those who were assisted in trafficking cases, and reports from other agencies like the UN’s International Labour Organization. 
 
 But other anti-exploitation groups offer caution over Walk Free’s definition of slavery and the methodology it uses in calculating the numbers of people affected. 
 
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 In a recent essay, What’s Wrong with the Global Slavery Index?, published in the Anti-Trafficking Review, the author, Anne Gallagher, argued that the term “modern slavery” seeks to encompass under its expansive umbrella a raft of exploitative practices and a myriad of victims. 
 
 “We don’t yet have universally accepted diagnostic criteria or credible tools of measurement – which means that universal, reliable calculation of the size of the problem, while an important goal to strive for, is not yet possible,” she wrote.
– A new survey on modern slavery around the world pegs the number of people in the US who fall into that category at about 400,000, reports the Guardian. The new Global Slavery Index also puts the number worldwide at 40.3 million and rising. While modern slaves in the US make up just a fraction of that figure, the group behind the survey—the Walk Free Foundation—says America plays a deeper role in the problem as the biggest importer of goods produced by suspected slave labor. The 2016 estimate was $144 billion worth of such goods. Other report highlights: Worst offenders: North Korea has the highest concentration of modern slaves, who account for 1 in 10 of the population, or 2.6 million people, reports CNN. Then comes Eritrea, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Mauritania, South Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Iran. Women hit hardest: The vast majority of modern slaves, 71%, are women, reports Axios. The usual route is through forced marriages. Solutions: The foundation calls for outlawing forced marriages, setting a minimum marriage age of 18, setting up a database of human trafficking cases, and bringing greater transparency to the world's supply chain. One victim: "Over 40 million people ... they are not numbers," says North Korean defector Yeon-mi Park, who escaped to China only to be forced into a marriage, per the AP. "It could be anyone. It was me. It was my mother. It was my sister. Even now, there are 300,000 North Korean defectors in China, and 90% of them are being trafficked. They are being sold by Chinese men for a few hundred dollars."