Building upon the inaugural 2021 edition of the Global Organized Crime Index and taking advantage of an expanded wealth of information, this second edition is able to make a comparative analysis of changes in illicit economies and in terms of resilience over the past two years. This year’s assessment boasts a broader scope with five new criminal markets covered under the Index, including financial and cyber-dependent crimes and an additional criminal actor type. The newly-added indicators make up for a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of organized crime–resilience dynamics across all 193 UN member states. This allows for a better understanding of the organized crime phenomenon on a national and regional scale, enabling stakeholders to better plan and measure anti-organized crime approaches.
As the world slowly returned to a ‘new normal’ in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latent political tensions, environmental crises and economic stresses that seemed to take a back seat to the once immediate health emergency resurfaced. These revealed a more fractured world than ever before and created a perfect storm for illicit economies to flourish. Against this backdrop, the results of the upcoming 2023 Index demonstrate that organized crime remains an issue of a sizeable magnitude, posing equal threat to both developed and developing states. Join the panel of experts to discuss the results of the 2023 Index as well as their implications on a fractured world.