International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2019

There are an estimated 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across more than 70 countries. They make up less than 5 per cent of the world's population, but account for 15 per cent of the world’s poor. Yet they protect nearly 80 per cent of the Earth’s biodiversity. The ILO has been engaged with indigenous and tribal peoples’ issues since the 1920s. It is responsible for the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), the only international treaty open for ratification that deals exclusively with their rights.