In 2010, the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of the Republic of Yemen, in collaboration with ILO-IPEC, the Social Development Fund and UNICEF, conducted the first National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) in Yemen. The NCLS was designed to provide indicators on three main aspects of children’s lives: economic activity, schooling and unpaid household services. The survey covered 9,571 households containing 67,617 individuals, 23,535 of whom were children between 5 and 17 years of age.
Children aged 5-17 constitute 34.3% of the Yemeni population. The report says that of the 7.7 million children in this age group, 1.6 million, or 21%, are employed (Table 1). The employment rate is higher among older children than younger children. While 11% of children aged 5-11 years old are employed, this figure increases to 28.5% among children aged 12 14 and further to 39.1% among children aged 15-17.
| Table 1: Prevalence of employment by age |
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The employment rate of boys (21.7%) is only slightly higher than that of girls (20.1%) (Table 2). In fact, the employment rate of girls (12.3%) surpasses that of boys (9.8%) among younger children aged 5-11. Among older children aged 15-17, the employment rate of boys (44.8%) is higher than that of girls (32.3%). When children who are looking for work are also taken into account (relevant only for children aged 15-17), the overall rate of economic activity among children aged 5-17 increases only slightly, from 21.0% to 21.2% (Tables 1 & 2); however, a significant increase (from 44.8% to 47%) occurs in the economic activity rate of older boys aged 15-17.
| Table 2: Distribution of boys and girls by age and labour status |
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Child labourers include children performing hazardous work as well as other children, who, due to their age or working hours, are considered to be facing various risks to their physical, social, psychological, or educational development as a result of employment. An estimated 1,309,000 children in Yemen are considered child labourers. This represents 17.0% of all children aged 5-17 and 81.1% of all working children. Child labour rates are higher among older children: the rate is 11.0% for children aged 5-11, compared to 24.7% and 24.1%, respectively, for children aged 12-14 and 15-17 (Table 1). The proportion of boys who are child labourers is only slightly lower than that of girls (16.5% vs. 17.6%, Table 2).
Low school attendance is a problem particularly for female and rural children (Table 3). Girls aged 6-17 years have an attendance rate of 63.4%, compared to a 77.2% attendance rate among boys in the same age group. An even larger gap – 15 percentage points – exists between urban and rural children, among whom attendance rates are 81.8% and 66.9%, respectively. Hence, rural girls have the lowest attendance rate (57.5%), and urban boys have the highest (82.9%).
| Table 3: School attendance by age, residence and sex |
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