Child Labour
An estimated 138 million children were in child labour in 2024, down from 160 million in 2020 and 246 million in 2000. The latest ILO-UNICEF estimate shows a renewed decline after child labour rose between 2016 and 2020, but progress remains far too slow to meet global targets. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for roughly two-thirds of all cases, and most child labour is in agriculture.
Key Child Labour Insights
A renewed decline
After rising from 152 million in 2016 to 160 million in 2020, child labour fell to 138 million in 2024 — a drop of 22 million in four years and the resumption of long-term progress.
Africa bears the burden
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 87 million children in child labour, close to two-thirds of the global total, far more than any other region.
Agriculture dominates
61% of child labour is in agriculture, including farming, fishing and herding, followed by services at 27% and industry at 13%.
Too slow for the target
The world missed the goal of ending child labour by 2025. At current rates, reaching elimination would require progress about 11 times faster.
Global Child Labour Trend, 2000–2024
Children aged 5–17 in child labour and in hazardous work, in millions, across the quadrennial ILO-UNICEF estimates.
Key Finding: Child labour fell from 246 million in 2000 to 138 million in 2024, though it rose between 2016 and 2020.
Child Labour by Region, 2024
Number of children in child labour by world region, in millions.
Key Finding: Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 87 million children — roughly two-thirds of the global total.
Child Labour by Economic Sector, 2024
Share of all children in child labour by the sector they work in.
Key Finding: Agriculture accounts for 61% of child labour, far ahead of services (27%) and industry (13%).
Child Labour by Sex, 2024
Children in child labour by sex, in millions, among those aged 5–17.
Key Finding: Boys (78 million) outnumber girls (59 million) in measured child labour worldwide.
Children in Hazardous Work, 2000–2024
Children in work likely to harm their health, safety or development, in millions.
Key Finding: Hazardous child labour fell by 25 million from 2020 to 2024, reaching 54 million.
Understanding Child Labour Data
What counts as child labour
Child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity, and that is harmful to their development. It does not include all work done by children: light work that is permitted from age 12–13 and does not interfere with schooling or health is considered acceptable and is excluded. The estimates cover children aged 5–17 and define child labour using the minimum-age and hazardous-work conventions.
Hazardous work
Hazardous work is the largest category of child labour to be eliminated as a priority. It covers work that, by its nature or circumstances, is likely to harm a child's health, safety or moral development — including night work, dangerous machinery, mining and exposure to hazardous substances. In 2024 some 54 million children were in hazardous work, with roughly two-fifths under age 15.
How the estimates are made
Global figures are produced jointly by the ILO and UNICEF roughly every four years, drawing on national household surveys covering most of the world's child population. Because not every country surveys in the same year, modelling is used to produce a single comparable global estimate. The latest round was published in 2025 for the reference year 2024.
Caveats
Survey-based estimates capture measurable child labour and can miss hidden forms such as domestic work in third-party households, trafficking and the worst forms of child labour. Figures are also affected by survey timing, definitions and coverage gaps, so trends should be read as broad direction rather than exact year-to-year change.