Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful.[3] Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide,[4][5] although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of work undertaken by Amish children, as well as by Indigenous children in the Americas.[6][7][8]
Child labour has existed to varying extents throughout history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many children aged 5–14 from poorer families worked in Western nations and their colonies alike. These children mainly worked in agriculture, home-based assembly operations, factories, mining, and services such as news boys – some worked night shifts lasting 12 hours. With the rise of household income, availability of schools and passage of child labour laws, the incidence rates of child labour fell.[9][10][11]
As of 2023[update], in the world's poorest countries, around one in five children are engaged in child labour, the highest number of whom live in sub-saharan Africa, where more than one in four children are so engaged.[12] This represents a decline in child labour over the preceding half decade.[13] In 2017, four African nations (Mali, Benin, Chad and Guinea-Bissau) witnessed over 50 per cent of children aged 5–14 working.[13] Worldwide agriculture is the largest employer of child labour.[14] The vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories.[15] Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour.[16] UNICEF notes that "boys and girls are equally likely to be involved in child labour", but in different roles, girls being substantially more likely to perform unpaid household labour.[12]
Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank.[17] Nevertheless, the total number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in child labour in 2013.[18]
^Laura Del Col. "The Life of the Industrial Worker in Nineteenth-Century England". Victorian Web.
^"The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901". Br Med J. 2 (2139): 1871–2. 1901. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.2139.1871. PMC 2507680. PMID 20759953.
^"What is child labour?". International Labour Organization. 2012.
^Cite error: The named reference UN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"International and national legislation - Child Labour". International Labour Organization. 2011.
^"Labour laws - An Amish exception". The Economist. 5 February 2004.
^Larsen, P.B. Indigenous and tribal children: assessing child labour and education challenges. International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), International Labour Office.
^"Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work". Official Journal of the European Communities. 37. 20 August 1994 – via EUR-Lex.
^Cite error: The named reference ep99 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Hugh Cunningham; Pier Paolo Viazzo, eds. (1996). Child Labour in Historical Perspective: 1800-1985(PDF). UNICEF. ISBN 978-88-85401-27-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2015.
^Hindman, Hugh (2009). The World of Child Labour. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-1707-1.
^ ab"In the world's poorest countries, slightly more than 1 in 5 children are engaged in child labour". UNICEF. June 2023.
^ ab"UNICEF Data – Child Labour". UNICEF. 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^"Child Labour". The Economist. 20 December 2005.
^Cite error: The named reference ep05 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference ilo2008a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Norberg, Johan (2007). Världens välfärd (in Swedish). Stockholm: Government Offices of Sweden. p. 58. ISBN 978-91-85935-00-0. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016.
^"To eliminate child labour, "attack it at its roots" UNICEF says". UNICEF. 2013. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
Childlabour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically...
children in India are engaged in childlabour. In 2011, the national census of India found that the total number of child labourers, aged [5–14], to be at...
Childlabour is a recurring issue in cocoa production. Cote d’Ivoire (also known in English as Ivory Coast) and Ghana, together produce nearly 60% of the...
Childlabour laws are statutes placing restrictions and regulations on the work of minors. Childlabour increased during the Industrial Revolution due...
the Worst Forms of ChildLabour, known in short as the Worst Forms of ChildLabour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO)...
Childlabour in Bangladesh is significant, with 4.7 million children aged 5 to 14 in the work force in 2002-03. Out of the child labourers engaged in the...
Childlabour in Africa is generally defined based on two factors: type of work and minimum appropriate age of the work. If a child is involved in an activity...
Childlabour in Pakistan is the employment of children to work in Pakistan, which causes them mental, physical, moral and social harm. Childlabour takes...
countries by childlabour rate provides rankings of countries based on their rates of childlabour. Child labor is defined by the International Labour Organization...
The incidence of childlabour in Nepal is relatively high compared with other countries in South Asia. According to the Nepal Labour Force Survey in 2008...
collective bargaining, the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of childlabour, and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment...
Childlabour refers to the full-time employment of children under a minimum legal age. In 2003, an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey reported...
Robert Owen and prohibited childlabour under nine years of age and limited the working hours to twelve. A great milestone in labour law was reached with the...
Childlabour in the diamond industry is a widely reported and criticized issue on diamond industry for using childlabour in diamond mines and polishing...
exploitation, trafficking, childlabour and harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation/cutting and child marriage". The Convention...
Childlabour in Nigeria is the employment of children under the age of 18 in a manner that restricts or prevents them from basic education and development...
persistent problems include childlabour in India, malnutrition in India, street children in India, child marriage in India, child trafficking in India and...
International Programme on the Elimination of ChildLabour (IPEC) is a programme that the International Labour Organization has run since 1992. IPEC's aim...
Childlabour in Switzerland was a fact in rural areas to the 1960s, at least tolerated by the Swiss authorities referring to the so-called Verdingkinder...
ChildLabour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act-1986 provide a basis in law to identify, prosecute and stop childlabour in India. Nevertheless, child labour...
consent is given. The Worst Forms of ChildLabour Convention, 1999, (Convention No 182) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) describes it as the...
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with...
national legislation – ChildLabour". International Labour Organisation. 2011. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. "ChildLabour". Archived from the...
Elimination of ChildLabour (ILO-IPEC)." International Labour Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of ChildLabour (ILO-IPEC). 1998...
ChildLabour Unit (Bengali: শিশু শ্রমিক ইউনিট) is a Bangladesh government specialized unit under the Ministry of Labour and Employment responsible for...
objective of the elimination of childlabour, and not even near their commitments of a 70% reduction of childlabour by 2020". A report later that year...
incidents. In 2022, the International Labour Organization declared that Uzbek cotton is free from systemic child labor and forced labor, with 99% of participants...