UNICEF - Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse - Child labour

Child Labour

© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2493/Michael Kamber

A girl works at a charcoal production yard near the south-western city of San Pédro. Workers are exposed to dangerous smoke and charcoal fumes throughout the day.

An estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour - one in six children in the world. Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture or working with dangerous machinery. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, labouring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations.

• In Sub-Saharan Africa around one in three children are engaged in child labour, representing 69 million children.
• In South Asia, another 44 million are engaged in child labour.
• The latest national estimates for this indicator are reported in Table 9 (Child Protection) of UNICEF's annual publication The State of the World's Children.

Children living in the poorest households and in rural areas are most likely to be engaged in child labour. Those burdened with household chores are overwhelmingly girls. Millions of girls who work as domestic servants are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Labour often interferes with children’s education. Ensuring that all children go to school and that their education is of good quality are keys to
preventing child labour.

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Updated 06 July 2011 -->

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Updated: 23 February 2011

via unicef.org