Child Labour

WHAT IS "CHILD LABOR"?
"Child labor" is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally, or by blocking access to education).

WHO IS A "CHILD"?
International conventions define children as aged 18 and under.

WHO ARE CHILD LABORERS? AND HOW MANY ARE THERE?
In 2000, the ILO estimates, "246 million child workers aged 5 and 17 were involved in child labor, of which 171 million were involved in work that by its nature is hazardous to their safety, physical or mental health, and moral development. Moreover, some 8.4 million children were engaged in so-called 'unconditional' worst forms of child labor, which include forced and bonded labor, the use of children in armed conflict, trafficking in children and commercial sexual exploitation." Unicef’s State of the World’s Children Report says only that although the exact number is not known, it is surely in the hundreds of millions.

WHERE DO CHILD LABORERS LIVE?
61% in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America, 1% in US, Canada, Europe and other wealthy nations In Asia, 22% of the workforce is children. In Latin America, 17% of the workforce is children. The proportion of child laborers varies a lot among countries and even regions inside those countries.
"In Africa, one child in three is at work, and in Latin America, one child in five works. In both these continents, only a tiny proportion of child workers are involved in the formal sector and the vast majority of work is for their families, in homes, in the fields or on the streets." -- Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report.

WHAT DO CHILD LABORERS DO?
Work ranges from taking care of animals and planting and harvesting food, to many kinds of small manufacturing (e.g. of bricks and cement), auto repair, and making of footwear and textiles.

A large proportion of children whom the ILO classifies as child laborers work in agriculture.

More boys than girls work outside their homes. But more girls work in some jobs: for instance, as domestic maids. Being a maid in someone’s house can be risky. Maids typically are cut off from friends and family, and can easily be physically or sexually abused by their employers.
Note: Less than 5% of child laborers make products for export to other countries. Sources for this statistic include Unicef’s State of the World’s Children Report 1997.

WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Many children in hazardous and dangerous jobs are in danger of injury, even death.
Beyond compassion, consider who today’s children will become in the future. Between today and the year 2020, the vast majority of new workers, citizens and new consumers — whose skills and needs will build the world’s economy and society — will come from developing countries. Over that 20-year period, some 730 million people will join the world’s workforce — more than all the people employed in today's most developed nations in 2000. More than 90 percent of these new workers will be from developing nations, according to research by Population Action International. How many will have had to work at an early age, destroying their health or hampering their education?