Child Labour

Facts and figures

  • Global number of children in child labour has declined by one third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million children. More than half of them, 85 million, are in hazardous work (down from 171 million in 2000).
  • Asia and the Pacific still has the largest numbers (almost 78 million or 9.3% of child population), but Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest incidence of child labour (59 million, over 21%).
  • There are 13 million (8.8%) of children in child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the Middle East and North Africa there are 9.2 million (8.4%).
  • Agriculture remains by far the most important sector where child labourers can be found (98 million, or 59%), but the problems are not negligible in services (54 million) and industry (12 million) – mostly in the informal economy.
  • Child labour among girls fell by 40% since 2000, compared to 25% for boys.

News

  1. Press release

    Alliance 8.7: For a world without forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour

    19 September 2016

  2. Press release

    New alliance against forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour

    14 September 2016

List all

Publications

  1. Georgia National Child Labour Survey 2015 - Analytical Report

  2. Moving towards a child labour free Jordan – A collection of emerging good practices

  3. Tanzania national child labour survey 2014: Analytical Report

Videos on child labour

Good practices

Events

  1. Sub-regional consultation workshop on achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 8.7

    14 - 15 September 2016

  2. Tackling child labour in supply chains - Child Labour Platform (CLP) Meeting

    17 - 18 October 2016

A mobile application against child labour

  1. Eliminating and preventing child labour: Checkpoints for Companies

    This app allows business managers and auditors to create interactive checklists that will help them ensure a child labour-free operation. There are 18 checkpoints in total, divided into six categories. Each checkpoint provides best-practice recommendations for taking action.