Money laundering statistics 2024: How much money is laundered every year?

By:

Delyana Georgieva

Delyana is a Data Analyst at Invezz, an experienced market researcher and content creator. Prior to joining Invezz, she worked at marketing agencies and for an... read more.

Updated:  Dec 1, 2023

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13 min read

Nearly all criminal activities generate profits. The issue for offenders is how to keep illegal funds away from authorities and make them look legitimate. Otherwise, why commit crimes in the first place?

The clandestine nature of money laundering makes quantifying how much money is laundered every year notoriously difficult. At Invezz.com we are always up for a challenge to produce spot-on research & statistics pieces. Without further ado, let’s dive into the key money laundering statistics.

Key takeaways

• Up to $5.05 trillion will be laundered globally in 2024.
• As of 2022, $23.8 billion worth in crypto was laundered, up from 68% in the previous year.
• Crypto money laundering was up 68% in 2022.
• In 2021 NFT money laundering saw a 231% increase for less than 12 months.
• At least $300 billion is laundered every year in the US.
• Over £100 billion is annually laundered in the UK.
• About €100 billion is laundered in Germany each year.
• In 2022 Russians had about $1 trillion of dark money, hidden abroad.
• The US State Department estimates that $154 billion is laundered in China.
• The Nordic region excels, with 4 of the top 10 lowest money laundering risk countries in the world.
• Sub-Saharan Africa stands out as the region with the highest money laundering risk.
• Digital identity verification in finance reached 77% in 2021, suggesting a growingly conscious financial sector.
• As of 2022, cryptocurrency and blockchain was the biggest challenge for financial organizations, highlighted by 21% of professionals.

Overall money laundering statistics

1. Up to $5.05 trillion will be laundered globally in 2024.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime approach remains most popular for calculating how much money is laundered every year. The body suggests that the annual money laundering volumes range from 2 to 5% of the global GDP. Using these estimates, that will be  between $2.11 and $5.28 trillion in 2023 and $2.22 and $5.54 trillion in 2024. 

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, IMF

2. $23.8 billion in cryptocurrency money was laundered in 2022.

Cryptocurrency aids offenders in moving their ill-acquired funds beyond the reach of authorities, hoping to convert them into cash. The 2022 report by Chainalysis estimated how much money is laundered every year through cryptocurrency. Results showed that about $23.8 billion worth in crypto was laundered that year. This marks a 68% increase over 2021.

Source: Chainalysis

3. NFT money laundering is still small yet a lucrative sector for offenders.

At the end of 2021, money laundering through buying and selling NFTs amounted to $1.377 million. The amount might be small, yet this is a 231% increase since the beginning of the same year. Since the launch of Bitcoin, there have been concerns about how easy it is to send and receive assets anonymously in the cryptocurrency space. 

Source: The Verge

4. Over the last five years, money laundering risk has changed disappointingly little. 

As of 2022, the global anti-money laundering risk averaged at 5.25 out of 10, according to the Basel Institute of Governance. The figure is consistent with the 5.30 measured in the previous year. Sadly, the anti-money laundering index fell by a mere 0.38 points between 2018 and 2022.  

Source: Basel Institute of Governance

Money laundering statistics by country

5. At least $300 billion is laundered every year in the US.

Data from the US Treasury Department helps to understand how much money is laundered in the US. The 2015 National Money Laundering Assessment suggested an annual laundering total of $300 billion. Considering the GDP and dirty money correlation, this amount may have grown by over 30% between 2015 and 2022.

Source: US Treasury Department, Statista

6. The median loss in a US money laundering case was $304,417 in 2022.

Although many financial crimes remain undetected, the cases reported to the US Sentencing Commission illuminate the scale of the offence. As of 2022, the median loss in a US money laundering case stood at $304,417, up 4% from the previous year.

There is a great variance between cases. About 14.6% of all cases resulted in loss amounts of $40,000 or less, and another 17.3% involved losses exceeding $1.5 million.

Source: US Sentencing Commission

7. In 2022, there were 1,001 money laundering cases in the US. 

As of 2022, 1,001 money laundering cases were reported to the US Sentencing Commission. That represents a 20.5% increase from 2021 but below the 2018 high, when 1,138 cases were investigated. Changes in the number of cases do not necessarily mean that there are more money laundering crimes. Instead, this shows a higher rate of criminals who got caught.

Talking about criminals, the same report showed that they are mostly male (78.2%). On average, offenders were 42 years old. For the majority (70.4%), money laundering was their first major criminal conviction. 

Source: US Sentencing Commission

8. Money laundering is a serious criminal activity in the US, with 90% of offenders going to prison.

Money laundering resulted in prison sentences for 89.6% of the cases, reported to the US Sentencing Commission in 2022. Offenders on average got a 71-month sentence. Only a small fraction of sentences (11.7%) were decreased for minor participation.  

Source: US Sentencing Commission

9. Over £100 billion is laundered every year in the UK.

In 2021 the National Crime Agency provided estimates about how much money is laundered in the UK, indicating an annual total of £100 billion. The agency highlights the growing frequency of cyber criminal activity, enabled through cryptocurrency. 

The alarming trend was unlocked during the pandemic, when offenders found it very difficult to move cash during lockdowns. So, they used cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin instead.

Source: National Crime Agency

10. About €100 billion is laundered in Germany annually.

In Germany, the awareness of dirty money tools and tactics remains rather low, even in the high-risk sectors of real estate, art dealership, and escrow services of lawyers. This is a conclusion in the 2019 study by Prof. Brussman at Martin Luther University. He set out the aim to estimate how much money is laundered in Germany, using secondary data, and more than 1,000 interviews. The sloppy supervision contributes to the staggering amount of €100 billion laundered in the country annually.

Source: Trends in Organized Crime, Volume 22, Issue 3

11. Russia has about $1 trillion of dark money, hidden abroad.

In 2022, the US think tank Atlantic Council estimated that wealthy Russians have managed to move about $1 trillion of ill-acquired money. This money came from illegal activities like stealing from the budget or extorting money from businesses. 

A 2014 project called “Russian Laundromat” helps to explain how much money is laundered in Russia. Findings show that between 2011 and 2014, 19 banks in the country managed to launder $20.8 billion, or $7 billion annually.

Source: Atlantic Council, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

12. Approximately $154 billion is laundered in China annually, according to the US State Department.

China’s contribution of about a fifth of the global GDP suggests that the country is a hot spot for money laundering schemes, too. The US State Department claims that approximately $154 billion pass through China in illicit funds each year, a statement that China disputes.

Source: The Times, Statista

13. In 2021, there were 15,368 money laundering cases in China.

Money laundering convictions in China almost doubled from 16,328 in 2021 to 31,883 in 2022. The total number of cases prosecuted was 15,368. This marks an ongoing improvement in China’s anti-money laundering framework. Since 2007, China has been under the guidance of the Financial Action Task Force. Their joint efforts resulted in full or partial compliance with 37 of the 40 recommendations made by the body. 

Source: The People’s Bank of China, Financial Action Task Force

14. China ranks in the top 30 for money laundering risk, while the US is in the bottom 30.

In 2022 the Basel Institute of Governance expanded the coverage of its Anti-Money Laundering report to include 128 countries. With a risk score of 6.69 out of 10, China is in the 21st position, indicating a high-risk country. 

Meanwhile, the US is at the bottom of the list with a significantly lower risk score of 4.32. That said, there are far better and worse performing countries, money laundering facts show.

Source: Basel Institute of Governance

15. Finland tops the list of countries with the lowest money laundering risk.

At 2.88/10, Finland is the country with the lowest money laundering and terrorist financing risk, data from the same report showed. 

Intriguingly, the study demonstrated a nearly perfect correlation with environmental crime. Countries like Finland that tackle the risk of crimes impacting the planet were also found to be successful in tackling dirty money. 

On a less positive note, Finland shows literally zero effectiveness of supervision. The gaps in the country’s supervisory framework involve limited sanctions, a lack of risk-based approach, poor coordination, and insufficient guidance. But Finland is not alone. A whole lot of countries (33.8%) score zero in supervision effectiveness.

16. Among the top 10 countries with the lowest anti-money laundering scores, 40% are Nordic.

Along with Finland (2.88/10), its Nordic counterparts Sweden (3.12), Iceland (3.31), and Norway (3.50) are building a money laundering safe space. 

But this wasn’t always the case. From 2007 to 2013 the Estonian branch of Danske Bank allowed 15,000 customers to conduct suspicious transactions. The institution overlooked the fact that 44% of deposits originated from non-resident customers, mostly from Russia. With all documentation in Estonian and Russian, Danske Bank lacked proper awareness of the 7.5 million foreign customers who collectively made a money flow of 200 billion euros. 

Nordic and Baltic countries learned from their mistakes and asked the IMF to issue a money laundering activities report in the region. The 2023 assessment noted the region’s continuous efforts and innovative solutions to combat financial crime, reflected in the countries’ low money laundering indices.

Source: Basel Institute of Governance, International Monetary Fund

17. DR Congo is flagged as the country with the highest money laundering risk.

A combination of corruption, bribery, poor transparency, and a weak rule of law contributed to the high money laundering risk scores in the Democratic Republic of Congo (8.30), Haiti (8.16), Myanmar (7.78), Mozambique (7.68), and Madagascar (7.68). Most of these countries are African, a region remarkably suffering from low transparency of beneficial ownership. 

Importantly, money laundering facts demonstrate that the situation in Africa has been deteriorating. The negative trend makes investors shy away, cuts ties for small businesses, and prevents charities from receiving donations, the Basel Institute of Governance highlights.

Source: Basel Institute of Governance

Money laundering statistics by industry

18. Payment institutions are most vulnerable to flaws in anti-money laundering systems.

In 2022 about 68% of European anti-money laundering supervisors saw either a very significant or significant money laundering risk, associated with the payments industry.

Source: European Banking Authority

19. In 2022 transactions monitoring was the most common anti-money laundering breach in the payments industry.

European supervisors identified that most common breaches in the industry were related to ongoing monitoring (62%), customer risk assessment (42%), and internal anti-money laundering procedures and control (42%).

Source: European Banking Authority

20. Digital identity verification in the financial services industry surged by 77% in 2021.

Considering how much money is laundered every year, there’s no surprise that financial crime experts have been growingly conscious. The latest money laundering facts by Thomson Reuters showed that in 2021, 77% of financial organizations performed digital identity verification, up from 62% in 2019.

Most notably, the rate of institutions requiring mobile authentication grew from 23% in 2019 to 39% in 2021. Other digital identity verification solutions are ID capture services (22%), digital footprint verification (21%), biometric authentication (15%), and optical character authentication (8%). 

Source: Thomson Reuters

21. Cryptocurrency and blockchain is the biggest challenge for financial organizations

Organizations in the financial industry are tracking a broader range of issues, relevant to money laundering schemes. Among them, challenges related to virtual currency and blockchain were deemed most important in 2021, according to 21% of financial professionals. Closely following are regulatory changes, flagged by 20% of financial professionals.

Source: Thomson Reuters

Final thoughts

In this article, we figured out how much money is laundered every year, and we dived deeper into the underlying causes and effects among countries worldwide. No matter where you live, offenders launder up to 5% of the GDP that you produce and hide it away. Money laundering steals from the taxes you pay, making rich people richer and poor people poorer. Beyond financial implications, it is the magic sauce of all other crimes, including crimes against our fragile nature, people trafficing, and forced labour. The consequences of money laundering are far-reaching, and they affect us all.

It is rather disappointing that the progress in reducing risks is so modest. Money laundering facts showed that the most significant gap in mitigating money laundering schemes is the lack of a supervisory framework. What’s required is to prosecute more cases and apply sanctions. This is only possible through collective action, ensuring the right collaboration, approaches, and training.  

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