Global estimates of child labour: Results and trends, 2012-2016

The new global estimates are a collective effort from members of Alliance 8.7, the global partnership to end forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour that brings together key partners representing governments, UN organisations, the private sector, workers’ and employers’ organizations and civil society in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.

The 2017 Global Estimates can be found online here.

Facts and figures

Worldwide 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are in employment.
Among them, 152 million are victims of child labour; almost half of them, 73 million, work in hazardous child labour.
In absolute terms, almost half of child labour (72.1 million) is to be found in Africa; 62.1 million in the Asia and the Pacific; 10.7 million in the Americas; 1.2 million in the Arab States and 5.5 million in Europe and Central Asia.
In terms of prevalence, 1 in 5 children in Africa (19.6%) are in child labour, whilst prevalence in other regions is between 3% and 7%: 2.9% in the Arab States (1 in 35 children); 4.1% in Europe and Central Asia (1 in 25); 5.3% in the Americas (1 in 19) and 7.4% in Asia and the Pacific region (1 in 14).
Almost half of all 73 million children victims of child labour are aged 5-11 years.
42 million (28%) are 12-14 years old; and 37 million (24%) are 15-17 years old.
Hazardous child labour is most prevalent among the 15-17 years old. Nevertheless up to a fourth of all hazardous child labour (19 million) is done by children less than 12 years old.
Among 152 million children in child labour, 88 million are boys and 64 million are girls.
58% of all children in child labour and 62% of all children in hazardous work are boys. Boys appear to face a greater risk of child labour than girls, but this may also be a reflection of an under-reporting of girls’ work, particularly in domestic child labour.
Child labour is concentrated primarily in agriculture (71%), which includes fishing, forestry, livestock herding and aquaculture, and comprises both subsistence and commercial farming; 17% in Services; and 12% in the Industrial sector, including mining.

Global estimates of child labour - Results and trends, 2012-2016 DOWNLOAD

“Hellish Work”

Publications

Summary Every year, tens of thousands of migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan travel to the central asian economic powerhouse of Kazakhstan in search of employment. thousands of these migrant workers, often together with their children, find work in t...Read More

TAGS: Sourcing or Production Agriculture, Horticulture & Landscaping Asia

External policy tools to address modern slavery and forced labour

Publications

The paper presents the findings of a study on external policy measures adopted by the European Union and like-minded partners to address modern slavery in third countries. The study is intended to support the European Parliament in monitoring E...Read More

TAGS: Recruitment Sourcing or Production Global Europe

Exposing the Hidden Victims of COVID-19

COVID-19 resourcesGuidancePublications

The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing just how fragile the protection and prevention framework on modern slavery is, despite progress in recent years resulting from a new focus, marked particularly by a drive toward national anti-slavery legislation. ...Read More

TAGS: Due Diligence Domestic Work/ Servitude Informal Sector Global

Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labour in United States Tobacco Farming

Publications

Methodology This report is based on interviews with 141 children ages 7 to 17 who said they had worked in tobacco farming in the United States in 2012 or 2013. During multiple field research trips between May and October 2013, Human Rights Watch ...Read More

TAGS: Reporting Agriculture, Horticulture & Landscaping North America