Child Labour

Child Labour

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.

Definitions of Child labor

UNICEF defines child labour as work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated.

• Ages 5-11: At least one hour of economic work or 28 hours of domestic
  work per week.
• Ages 12-14: At least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of domestic
  work per week.
• Ages 15-17: At least 43 hours of economic or domestic work per week.