Crime generates an estimated $2.1 trillion in global annual proceeds -- or 3.6 percent of the world's gross domestic product -- and the problem may be growing, a United Nations official said on Monday, Reuters reported.

"It makes the criminal business one of the largest economies in the world, one of the top 20 economies," said Yury Fedotov, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), describing it as a threat to security and economic development.

The figure was calculated recently, for the first time, by the UNODC and World Bank, based on the data for 2009.

Fedotov said that annually up to $40 billion is lost through corruption in developing countries, and illicit incomes from human trafficking amounts to $32 billion every year.

"According to some estimates, at any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of human trafficking, a shameful crime of modern day slavery," he said.

Criminal groups have shown "impressive adaptability" to law enforcement actions and new profit opportunities, a senior U.S. official said.

(China.org.cn April 25, 2012)

据路透社报道，周一，联合国的一名官员表示，犯罪活动的全球年收入约达2.1万亿美元，占全世界国内生产总值的3.6%，该问题可能会进一步恶化。

联合国毒品和犯罪办事处处长尤里·费多托夫说：“这使得违法生意成为世界上最大的经济体之一，位列20强。”他还说，该问题是对安全和经济发展的危险。

最近，联合国毒品和犯罪办事处和世界银行用2009年的数据首次算出了这一数字。

费多托夫说，每年发展中国家因腐败损失400亿美元，贩卖人口产生的非法收入每年高达320亿美元。

他说：“据某些估算显示，在任一时期，240万人受害于贩卖人口活动，这是可耻的现代社会贩奴行为。”

一名美国高级官员称，犯罪组织对执法行动和新的赚钱机会表现出“惊人的适应力”。