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The Guardian: police outnumbered by private security in most countries
New research from The Guardian finds that private security guards are becoming an increasingly common sight across the world.
September 21, 2017 By Staff
The data show there are an estimated 7 million private security workers in India compared to just 1.4 million police officers. Similarly, in China there about 5 million people employed in private security compared to a police strength of 2.7 million. According to Forbes, the U.S. Department of Labor statistics claims that there are over 1.1 million private security guards in the U.S. compared to 666,000 police officers.
“The global market for private security services, which include private guarding, surveillance and armed transport, is now worth an estimated $180 billion (£140 billion), and is projected to grow to $240 billion by 2020,” a Guardian article reported. “This far outweighs the total international aid budget to end global poverty ($140 billion a year) — and the GDPs of more than 100 countries, including Hungary and Morocco.”
See Forbes’ infographic for more.
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