Nearly 138 million children, almost 8% of all children aged 5 to 17, were in child labour in 2024, down from 246 million in 2000, but the 2025 deadline to end it has been missed and progress would have to be 11 times faster to end it by 2030.
Updated October 13, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
Out of every 100 children in child labour worldwide, how many work in agriculture?
138 million
Children in child labour
7.8% of all children aged 5 to 17: about 59 million girls and 78 million boys. Modelled from national surveys covering 60% of the world's children.
Data year 2024. Source: International Labour Organization, 2025
54 million
Children in hazardous work
Around 4 in 10 children in child labour do work likely to harm their health, safety or development, including 10.3 million aged 5 to 11. Down from 79 million in 2020.
Data year 2024. Source: International Labour Organization, 2025
87 million
Children in child labour in sub-Saharan Africa
Nearly two-thirds of the world total. The share of children affected fell from 23.9% in 2020 to 21.5% in 2024, but population growth kept the number unchanged.
Data year 2024. Source: International Labour Organization, 2025
Unit: million children
Selected rounds of the ILO-UNICEF global estimates as reported in the 2025 report; the 2004 (222.3 million) and 2012 (168.0 million) rounds are not shown. The share of children in child labour fell from 16.0% in 2000 to 7.8% in 2024 and stayed at 9.6% between 2016 and 2020 while the number rose. All values are modelled from national surveys, and the ILO notes that measurement has improved over time, so earlier rounds may have missed some cases.
Under SDG target 8.7, countries committed to ending child labour in all its forms by 2025. That deadline has passed with nearly 138 million children still in child labour in 2024. The ILO and UNICEF calculate that ending it by 2030 would require progress 11 times faster than between 2020 and 2024.
Young children make up the majority: 79 million of the children in child labour, 57%, are aged 5 to 11, and the number in this age group is still higher than in 2012.
Source: International Labour Organization, 2025In countries affected by conflict, 21% of children are in child labour, more than four times the 5% in countries that are neither conflict-affected nor fragile. In fragile countries without active conflict the rate is 16%.
Source: International Labour Organization, 2025Boys are more likely than girls to be in child labour, at 8.6% compared with 6.9% in 2024. When household chores of 21 hours or more a week are counted for children aged 5 to 14, the gap closes and the rate for girls is slightly higher.
Source: International Labour Organization, 2025Nearly a third of children aged 5 to 14 in child labour are out of school, compared with 8% of children the same age who are not in child labour. Among adolescents aged 15 to 17 in child labour, nearly 60% are not in school, compared with 14% of their peers.
Source: International Labour Organization, 2025Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
Loading country values…
Share of children aged 5 to 17 engaged in child labour in economic activity (SDG indicator 8.7.1, household chores not included), from national household surveys in about 100 countries. Values are the latest year available per country, so years differ (2010 to 2025, most 2019 or later); survey designs differ between countries, and there are no data for China and most high-income countries.
Source: ILO and UNICEF (SDG indicator 8.7.1), via Our World in Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from Our World in Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateThe number of children in child labour fell from 246 million in 2000 to 138 million in 2024, and the share fell from 16.0% to 7.8%. But the number rose between 2016 and 2020, and in sub-Saharan Africa it has not fallen at all.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
ModerateSocial protection is well studied: in an ILO-UNICEF review of 62 studies from 2010 to 2022, 37 found clear reductions in children's work, and cash transfers consistently reduced paid work outside the home. But results depend on design, some programmes increased work on family farms, and there is little evidence on the worst forms of child labour.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
LowOnly 23.9% of children aged 0 to 18 worldwide receive a child cash benefit, leaving 1.8 billion without one. In Africa, just 15.4% of children aged 0 to 15 were covered in 2023.
The global estimates rest on national household surveys in 107 countries covering 60% of the world's children, with modelling for the rest. The worst forms other than hazardous work are largely missed by these surveys and are undercounted.
Child labour fell by more than 20 million between 2020 and 2024, reversing the rise of the previous four years. The pace is far too slow for the 2030 target, and the ILO and UNICEF warn that funding cuts could reverse the gains.
Child labour is work that children are too young to do, or work that is likely to harm their health, safety or development. In 2024 an estimated 138 million children aged 5 to 17 were in child labour, almost 8% of all children in that age group, and 54 million of them were in hazardous work. That is far fewer than the 246 million counted in 2000, even though the world's child population grew by 230 million over the same period. It is also more than 20 million fewer than in 2020, reversing a rise between 2016 and 2020. Most child labour does not take place in factories: 61% is in agriculture, much of it on family smallholdings and in subsistence farming, 27% is in services such as domestic work and market selling, and 13% is in industry, including mining and manufacturing.
Sub-Saharan Africa has about 87 million children in child labour, nearly two-thirds of the global total. The share of children affected there has fallen, but because the child population is growing quickly, the number has not. Rates are highest in countries affected by conflict or fragility, and more than half of all children in child labour are only 5 to 11 years old. Child labour often costs children their education: nearly a third of those of compulsory school age are not in school, and children in child labour are more than 30% less likely to have basic reading and numeracy skills. Hazardous work can cause injury or illness with lifelong consequences. Child labour is closely linked to poverty, and the ILO and UNICEF warn that cuts in funding for education, social protection and child protection, together with climate change and conflict, could undo recent gains.
Not all work done by children is child labour. The international definition draws on two ILO conventions: No. 138 on the minimum age for employment and No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour, the first ILO convention to be ratified by every member state. It draws the line by age, hours and type of work, and SDG indicator 8.7.1 tracks the share of children aged 5 to 17 in child labour. Four elements decide what is counted:
Age and working hours
Children aged 5 to 11 are counted as being in child labour if they do any economic work. Children aged 12 to 14 may do light work for fewer than 14 hours a week; 14 hours or more counts as child labour. Adolescents aged 15 to 17 may legally work in many countries, so they are counted only if their work is hazardous.
Hazardous work
For statistical purposes, work is hazardous if it is in mining, quarrying or construction, in one of 41 occupations that an ILO task force has judged dangerous for children, or if it lasts 43 hours or more a week. Hazardous work is counted as child labour at every age under 18.
Worst forms beyond hazardous work
Convention No. 182 also covers slavery-like practices and forced labour, the forced recruitment of children for armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation and the use of children in illicit activities. Household surveys rarely capture these forms, so the global estimates undercount them.
Household chores and survey-based estimates
Unpaid household chores of 21 hours or more a week are counted only in a broader measure for children aged 5 to 14, which raises the share in child labour from 8% to 11%. The global figures are modelled from national household surveys in 107 countries that cover 60% of the world's children, with statistical imputation for countries without data.
What works
Regular cash payments help poor families cope with shocks without relying on their children's income. In an ILO-UNICEF review, 16 of 26 studies of cash transfer programmes found less participation or time in economic work, and transfers consistently reduced children's paid work outside the household. Adequate amounts, longer duration and messages that encourage schooling made programmes more effective.
Limits
Three of the 26 studies found more child work and others found mixed or no effects. Families may invest transfers in their farm or business and then need children's help there, and small or irregular payments have little effect. Without schools and health services nearby, cash cannot reach its full potential.
What works
School is the main alternative to work, and child labour sharply raises the chance that a child is not in school: nearly a third of children of compulsory school age in child labour are missing from class, compared with 8% of other children. The ILO and UNICEF call for free, good-quality schooling and support for older adolescents moving from school into decent work.
Limits
About two-thirds of children of compulsory school age in child labour do attend school, so many combine work and school, and attendance alone does not end child labour. Where schools are far away, costly or of poor quality, families have little reason to choose them over work.
What works
National laws aligned with ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 set a minimum working age and list work that is too dangerous for anyone under 18, and labour inspectors can enforce them in workplaces. Convention No. 182 is ratified by every ILO member state, so the legal standard is nearly universal.
Limits
Most child labour takes place in agriculture, largely on family farms and in subsistence work, and in informal small businesses, where inspectors rarely go. Enforcement without help for families can push children into less visible work rather than into school.
What works
Companies that sell globally can map where their products and raw materials come from, check suppliers for child labour and support remediation when they find it. The ILO, OECD, IOM and UNICEF recommend due diligence across the whole supply chain, built into how companies manage risk.
Limits
Only part of child labour is linked to global supply chains: an estimated 9% to 26% depending on the region, so most is in production for domestic markets or a household's own use. Much of what is linked sits in the lower tiers, such as raw materials and farming, where tracing is difficult.
What works
When adults earn a fair income, families depend less on children's work. In a sample of 16 countries, half of the children in child labour worked for their own household, for example in subsistence farming, collecting firewood or fetching water, so safe water and reliable electricity can free up children's time. The ILO and UNICEF also call for more diverse rural economies.
Limits
These are broad, slow changes, and their effect on child labour is hard to measure on its own. Programmes that help families start or expand a farm or small business can increase the demand for children's help unless they are combined with awareness efforts.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Some European countries and the EU have adopted laws that require large companies to identify and address human rights harms such as child labour in their supply chains. In early 2026 the EU scaled back its directive, limiting it to the largest companies and delaying its obligations by several years. Whether such laws reduce child labour, much of which lies far down supply chains, has not been shown.
A universal child benefit pays a regular amount for every child rather than only for households judged to be poor, and the ILO and UNICEF recommend it as a way to tackle child labour. Worldwide, coverage of children aged 0 to 15 by child or family cash benefits rose only from 22.1% in 2015 to 28.2% in 2023.
Some programmes combine cash with information on the harms of child labour and the value of schooling. An ILO-UNICEF review found that transfers accompanied by messages supporting education were more effective, and that a livelihood programme in Burkina Faso had protective effects when it included awareness sessions. Most other livelihood programmes reviewed did not reduce child labour, so the approach is still being tested.
The ILO and UNICEF argue that climate policies should avoid creating new risks: support for electric vehicles and solar panels should come with safeguards against child labour in mining supply chains, and recycling policies should steer informal e-waste work away from children. This is still mainly a recommendation rather than established practice.
Implementation gap
The ILO and UNICEF warn that global cuts in funding for education, social protection, child protection and livelihoods could push families to send children to work, at a time when public budgets are under severe strain.
Implementation gap
Countries spend on average 0.7% of GDP on child benefits, but low-income countries spend only 0.2%, and just 8.7% of their children aged 0 to 15 received a child or family benefit in 2023.
Implementation gap
61% of child labour is in agriculture, mostly in family subsistence work and on smallholder farms, and much of the rest is in informal small businesses. Labour inspection, company audits and supply-chain rules rarely reach this work.
Coordination gap
Child labour reaches 21% of children in conflict zones and 16% in fragile countries without active conflict. Reaching these children depends on humanitarian and development actors working together, often where public services are disrupted.
Technology gap
A large share of the child labour linked to global supply chains occurs in their lower tiers, in raw materials and agriculture, where visibility and traceability are poor and due diligence is hardest.
Knowledge gap
The global estimates use surveys covering 60% of the world's children and largely miss the worst forms of child labour. Too few countries measure child labour regularly in their national statistics, and the ILO and UNICEF warn that shrinking investment in data collection will make progress harder to track.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
Why has progress among children aged 5 to 11 been slower and more uneven than among older children, and which measures reach young children who work on family farms or for their own household?
How should cash transfers and livelihood programmes be designed so that money invested in a family farm or business does not increase the demand for children's work at home?
Do mandatory supply-chain laws reduce child labour in the lower tiers of supply chains, or do they mainly shift sourcing away from risky areas without improving the situation of the children concerned?
How do droughts, floods and other climate shocks change the risk of child labour in farming households, and which climate adaptation and social protection measures prevent it?
For products with farm or mineral ingredients, read the company's statement on child labour in its supply chain. Ask whether it helps affected children return to school and supports their families, not only whether it audits or drops suppliers.
Consider giving to organisations that help working children return to school or that support families' incomes, and that report what happens to children over time.
Ask your elected representatives to protect aid and public budgets for education, social protection and child protection, and to make sure supply-chain rules are enforced.
If you suspect that a child near you is being exploited, contact your local child protection services or a national child helpline. If a child is in immediate danger, call the emergency services.
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International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, published 2025
Latest global estimates (reference year 2024, published June 2025): 137.6 million children aged 5 to 17 in child labour and 54 million in hazardous work, with trends since 2000 and breakdowns by age, sex, sector, region, school attendance and fragility, plus policy priorities. Based on surveys in 107 countries covering 60% of children aged 5 to 17.
UNICEF and International Labour Organization (joint press release, 11 June 2025), published 2025
Summary of the 2024 global estimates with the agencies' warning that funding cuts and shrinking investment in data threaten recent gains, and their policy recommendations, including universal child benefits.
International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, published 2022
Review of 62 impact studies published between 2010 and 2022 on how cash transfers, child benefits, public works, health insurance, pensions and livelihood programmes affect child labour, including cases where effects were absent or negative.
International Labour Organization (ILO), published 2024
Global and regional coverage of child and family cash benefits (23.9% of children aged 0 to 18; 28.2% of children aged 0 to 15 in 2023) and public spending on child benefits.
ILO, OECD, IOM and UNICEF (joint news release, 12 November 2019), published 2019
Only joint estimate of the share of child labour linked to global supply chains (9% to 26% by region) and recommendations on due diligence by companies and governments.