The World in Stats

Organized Crime

Organised crime is a business built on illicit markets, coercion and the ability to move money across borders. Its activities range from drug trafficking and extortion to fraud, human exploitation, illegal trade and cybercrime. The groups involved can be long-established mafias, flexible networks or people who use positions inside legitimate institutions. This page compares an older estimate of major groups’ revenues with current country and market assessments, examines the cost of serious organised crime in the UK, and follows changes in drugs, financial crime and criminal actors. The figures reveal how the threat differs between countries and how quickly criminal enterprises adapt to new opportunities.

Statistics

  1. Five crime groups by reported annual revenue, 2014 estimates
  2. Organised-crime markets in the US, China and India, 2025
  3. UK cost of serious and organised crime by type, 2015–16
  4. Ten countries with the highest organised-crime criminality, 2025
  5. Europe’s ten highest criminality scores: markets and actors, 2025
  6. Most pervasive criminal markets worldwide, 2025
  7. How four global drug markets changed, 2021–2025
  8. Largest increases in country criminality scores, 2023–2025
  9. Types of criminal actors in the US, China and India, 2025
  10. Resilience among Europe’s highest-criminality countries, 2025

1. Five crime groups by reported annual revenue, 2014 estimates

The 2014 estimates place Russia’s Solntsevskaya Bratva at $8.5 billion a year, ahead of Japan’s Yamaguchi-gumi at $6.6 billion. Italy’s Camorra and ’Ndrangheta followed at $4.9 billion and $4.5 billion, with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel at $3 billion. Behind the dollar figures are different businesses: trafficking in drugs and people, gambling, extortion, counterfeiting and the laundering of money through legitimate firms. Their reach crosses borders even when a group’s roots lie in one city or region.

The ranking also tells a story about organisational structure. The yakuza’s formal hierarchy once made its operations more visible, while Russian and Italian networks often work through looser alliances and local cells. Italy’s Calabrian ’Ndrangheta became particularly prominent in transatlantic cocaine trafficking; Mexico’s cartels connect producers, transit corridors and consumer markets. These are historical estimates reported by Fortune, not a current league table of gang earnings: illicit revenues are hidden and no comparable, verified 2025 figures exist for all five groups.

Sources: Fortune, 2014 reported group revenue estimates

2. Organised-crime markets in the US, China and India, 2025

The United States stands out on synthetic drugs, scoring 9.0, and also has high assessments for cybercrime and financial crime, both 8.0. China scores 9.0 for both wildlife crime and counterfeit goods and 8.5 for cyber-dependent crime. India’s highest selected score is human trafficking at 8.5; counterfeit goods score 8.0 and cannabis, synthetic drugs and financial crime each score 7.5. The three countries face very different criminal economies despite their scale and global connections.

Demand, production and transit all matter. The American drug market attracts supply networks and feeds a rapidly changing synthetic-drug trade. China sits within manufacturing, digital and wildlife-trafficking chains that extend far beyond its borders. In India, labour exploitation and trafficking of people coexist with illicit goods and drugs. The index scores describe the assessed pervasiveness and influence of a market within a country, rather than counting crimes or measuring criminal profits. That distinction matters when comparing three countries with very different populations.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index, 2025 country and market dataset; Global Organized Crime Index, 2025 analysis

3. UK cost of serious and organised crime by type, 2015–16

Drugs supply dominated the Home Office’s detailed 2015–16 estimate, accounting for about £20 billion of the £36.7 billion total. The cost was much greater than the value of drugs sold: it included drug-related deaths, healthcare, acquisitive crime and enforcement. Economic crime came next at £8.4 billion, including fraud against businesses and the public sector and illicit tobacco. These burdens are felt by people who may never encounter an organised-crime group directly, through stolen money, higher costs and harm to health.

Modern slavery and organised child sexual exploitation each contributed about £2.3 billion in the same assessment, while organised acquisitive crime added £1.5 billion. A small slice still represents profound harm that financial totals cannot fully express. The UK government later raised its overall estimate to at least £47 billion annually, but did not publish a directly comparable new split by every crime type. The chart therefore shows the last detailed official breakdown as a dated snapshot, not a 2025 composition of that newer total.

Sources: Home Office Research Report 103, Table 2, social and economic costs in 2015–16; UK serious and organised crime strategy, at least £47bn annual estimate

4. Ten countries with the highest organised-crime criminality, 2025

Myanmar remains first in the 2025 index at 8.08. Colombia and Mexico follow at 7.82 and 7.68, while Ecuador and Paraguay are tied at 7.48. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, Lebanon and Türkiye complete the ten. Latin America’s strong presence reflects large drug-trafficking markets and the influence of networks that control routes, ports and local territories. In Myanmar, armed conflict has helped create space for illicit drugs, trafficking and large scam compounds.

The African countries on the list face overlapping pressures from illegal resource extraction, trafficking and violence. Lebanon’s high score sits against prolonged economic and political instability; Türkiye’s position reflects its role in cross-border routes as well as domestic markets. These cases differ, but each shows how criminal organisations can exploit weak oversight, conflict or economic distress. The index combines assessments of criminal markets and criminal actors; it is not a ranking of ordinary street crime or the number of people convicted.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index 2025 rankings; 2025 country-level criminality scores; 2025 thematic analysis

5. Europe’s ten highest criminality scores: markets and actors, 2025

Russia has Europe’s highest overall criminality score, 6.92, with criminal markets and actors almost level. Ukraine follows at 6.45. Italy’s criminal-actor score of 6.90 exceeds its market score of 5.83, consistent with the continued influence of established mafia networks even as criminal business extends abroad. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina also have stronger actor scores than market scores, while France has a somewhat larger market score than actor score.

Spain enters the 2025 top five with a score of 6.05, reflecting its place in illicit trade routes and active criminal markets. The United Kingdom, Belarus and Montenegro complete the ten alongside France. These differences reveal that organised crime is more than a single gang stereotype: networks may be powerful in one country, while another has extensive illicit trading and fraud without the same type of entrenched actor. Conflict, busy transport corridors and international demand shape the European picture.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index, Europe 2025 ranking and component scores; Downloadable 2025 country dataset

6. Most pervasive criminal markets worldwide, 2025

Financial crimes rank highest worldwide in 2025, averaging 6.21 across the countries assessed. Human trafficking follows at 5.92, ahead of human smuggling, arms trafficking and cannabis, all above five. Synthetic drugs also reach 5.14, reflecting how production and distribution have spread beyond traditional drug routes. The range of leading markets shows that organised crime is equally at home in bank accounts, labour exploitation and commodity supply chains.

Fraud can be conducted across borders without moving goods, and the index reports worsening financial-crime scores in 78 countries since 2023. Human trafficking is both an illicit market and a source of severe personal harm, including coerced work in criminal scam operations. Arms, narcotics and counterfeit goods rely more visibly on transport and local distribution. The scores reflect expert assessments of pervasiveness in 193 countries rather than dollar values; the global average gives each country one observation.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index 2025 downloadable country-market dataset; Index analysis of financial crime and illicit markets

7. How four global drug markets changed, 2021–2025

Synthetic drugs show the clearest rise, from an average index score of 4.62 in 2021 to 5.14 in 2025. Cocaine rises too, from 4.52 to 4.89. Heroin moves the other way after 2023, falling from 4.08 to 3.77 by 2025. Cannabis remains widespread at 5.19, though its 2025 score is below the 2023 level. The changing order points to a drug economy in which new synthetic products are gaining ground alongside the long-established cocaine trade.

Cocaine still depends on cultivation areas and trafficking corridors, especially in the Americas, before reaching markets in Europe and elsewhere. Synthetic-drug production can shift closer to consumers and adapt to new chemicals, making supply harder to contain. The steep drop in Afghan opium cultivation after 2022 helps explain pressure on heroin supply, although stockpiles and other producing regions still matter. The index’s trend is about the assessed reach of criminal markets, not the tonnage sold or a direct count of users.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index datasets for 2021, 2023 and 2025; Index report: global drug trafficking shifts

8. Largest increases in country criminality scores, 2023–2025

Haiti and Lesotho record the largest two-year increases, both 0.60 points. Morocco follows at 0.57 and Chad at 0.50; Guinea and Sierra Leone also rise by 0.47. Ecuador’s 0.41-point increase is especially consequential because it was already among the world’s highest-scoring countries and now reaches 7.48. The list spans the Caribbean, South America and several parts of Africa, showing that worsening conditions are not confined to one trafficking corridor.

Haiti’s criminal landscape has been shaped by armed groups exercising control over neighbourhoods and routes. In Ecuador, the rapid growth of trafficking networks and violence has changed the country’s position in the regional drug economy. Elsewhere, criminal markets interact with local governance, border pressures and economic hardship in different ways. A large increase does not necessarily mean a country has the highest overall score: Lesotho’s 2025 level is 4.52, far below Ecuador’s. The changes highlight direction and pace alongside the absolute ranking above.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index 2023 and 2025 country datasets; Global Organized Crime Index 2025 ranking and score change

9. Types of criminal actors in the US, China and India, 2025

China scores 7.5 for criminal networks and 7.0 for both state-embedded and private-sector actors. India also scores 7.0 for state-embedded actors and 6.5 for networks, but only 3.0 for mafia-style groups. The United States has a different balance: foreign actors, private-sector actors and networks each score 6.0, with state-embedded actors at 4.5. These profiles suggest different ways in which criminal activity connects to institutions and the legitimate economy.

A high network score can reflect flexible groups that form around opportunities rather than a permanent hierarchy. State-embedded influence raises a different concern: criminal enterprises may gain protection or access through officials. Private-sector actors can move illegal proceeds through ordinary companies and financial systems, while foreign groups exploit cross-border supply chains. The comparison complements the earlier market chart: the same country can have intense activity in a market without one type of organisation dominating every stage.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index 2025 criminal-actor indicator scores; Index definitions of actor categories

10. Resilience among Europe’s highest-criminality countries, 2025

The United Kingdom has the highest resilience score in this European group at 7.63, followed by France at 7.04 and Spain at 6.67. Italy scores 6.38 despite its long-standing mafia presence. Russia is lower at 3.42 and Belarus at 3.08, while Bosnia and Herzegovina scores 3.88. A country’s exposure to organised crime and its capacity to resist it can therefore look very different even within the same high-criminality group.

The stronger scores reflect institutions such as law enforcement, international cooperation, financial controls and support for victims and witnesses. Italy’s experience illustrates how an entrenched criminal problem can coexist with specialist institutions and sustained investigations. Lower resilience can leave groups more room to influence officials, intimidate communities and reinvest criminal earnings. The contrast with Russia and Belarus is especially sharp. These are assessed national capacities, not guarantees that residents or businesses will be protected in every locality.

Sources: Global Organized Crime Index 2025 Europe scores; Global Organized Crime Index resilience indicators