• Nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labour in 2024, including around 54 million in hazardous work likely to jeopardise their health, safety, or development, according to new estimates released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF.

• The latest data show a total reduction of over 22 million children since 2020, reversing an alarming spike between 2016 and 2020. 

• In 2015, the world made a promise to end child labour by 2025 in Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). That timeline has now come to an end.

• The report released on June 11 underscores a stark reality that while gains have been made, millions of children are still being denied their right to learn, play, and simply be children.

Key points of the report:

• According to the data, agriculture remains the largest sector for child labour, accounting for 61 per cent of all cases, followed by services (27 per cent), like domestic work and selling goods in markets, and industry (13 per cent), including mining and manufacturing.

• Asia and the Pacific achieved the most significant reduction in prevalence since 2020, with the child labour rate dropping from 5.6 per cent to 3.1 per cent (from 49 million to 28 million children). 

• Latin America and the Caribbean achieved an 8 per cent relative reduction in prevalence and an 11 per cent decline in total numbers. 

• Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest burden, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all children in child labour — around 87 million. While prevalence fell from 23.9 to 21.5 per cent, the total number has remained stagnant against the backdrop of population growth.

• Sustained and increased funding — both global and domestic — is needed more than ever if recent gains are to be maintained, warn the agencies. 

• Reductions in support for education, social protection, and livelihoods can push already vulnerable families to the brink, forcing some to send their children to work. Meanwhile, shrinking investment in data collection will make it harder to see and address the issue.

• Child labour compromises children’s education, limiting their rights and their future opportunities, and putting them at risk of physical and mental harm. 

• It is also a consequence of poverty and lack of access to quality education, pushing families to send their children to work and perpetuating inter-generational cycles of deprivation. 

• Boys are more likely than girls to be involved in child labour at every age, but when unpaid household chores of 21 hours or more per week are included, the gender gap reverses.

• Since 2000, child labour has almost halved, from 246 million to 138 million, yet current rates remain too slow, and the world has fallen short of reaching the 2025 global elimination target. 

• To end it within the next five years, current rates of progress would need to be 11 times faster.

Combating child labour

To accelerate progress, UNICEF and ILO are calling for governments to:

• Ensuring free and high-quality schooling to provide a worthwhile alternative to child labour and help ensure successful transitions from school to decent work.

• Equipping education systems to support the school-to-work transition, particularly for older adolescents who face heightened occupational safety and health risks in the labour market.

• Strengthening legal protections against child labour, aligned with international standards to lay the groundwork for effective prevention and enforcement.

• Universalising social protection to offset the socio-economic vulnerability underpinning child labour and to build resilience against future shocks and crises that could drive children into work.

• Expanding access to basic services to reduce the need for children to undertake arduous tasks and free up their time for school, play and rest.

• Combating child labour in business operations and supply chains, paying particular attention to informal micro and small enterprises operating on the lower tiers, where child labour risks are often most pronounced.

• Prioritising initiatives to address child labour, and especially hazardous work, among the youngest children as their physical and psychological immaturity amplifies the risk that exposure to harmful conditions may result in serious injury or illness with potentially lifelong consequences.

Child labour in India

• The problem of child labour continues to pose a challenge before the nation. The government has been taking various pro-active measures to tackle this problem. 

• However, considering the magnitude and extent of the problem and that it is essentially a socio-economic problem inextricably linked to poverty and illiteracy, it requires concerted efforts from all sections of the society to make a dent in the problem.

• According to the Census 2001 figures there are 1.26 crore working children in the age group of 5-14 as compared to the total child population of 25.2 crore. 

• As per survey conducted by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 2004-05, the number of working children is estimated at 90.75 lakh. As per Census 2011, the number of working children in the age group of 5-14 years has further reduced to 43.53 lakh.

• The government has enacted the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 which came into force on September 1, 2016.

• The amended Act is now called the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) [CALPR] Act, 1986. The Act provides for complete prohibition of work or employment of children below 14 years in any occupation and process and adolescents in the age group of 14 to 18 years in hazardous occupations and processes. The amendment also provides for stricter punishment of employers for violation of the Act and made the offence as cognizable.

• After strengthening the legislative framework through amendment in Child Labour Act, the government has framed the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017 which inter alia specifies the duties and responsibilities of state governments and district authorities to ensure effective enforcement of the provisions of the Act.

Additional Read:

What are the worst forms of child labour?

Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. The worst forms of child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities – often at a very early age.

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