The latest joint publication from UNICEF and ILO provides an overview of child labour patterns and trends both globally and regionally. It also describes the evolving profile of children in child labour, outlines the nature of child labour and where it is concentrated, and explores the impact of child labour on schooling.
Explore the data
In 2015, the world made a promise to end child labour by 2025. That timeline has now come to an end. But child labour has not. Today, nearly 138 million children remain in child labour worldwide.
While the elimination of child labour remains an unfinished task, the latest global estimates bring some welcome news. After a concerning rise in child labour captured by the global estimates for 2020, a feared further deterioration in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has not materialized, and the world has succeeded in returning to a path of progress. There are over 100 million fewer children in child labour today than in 2000, even as the child population increased by 230 million over the same period.
But progress needs to move faster and reach further. Even the gains made recently remain fragile given the risks of climate change, conflict, State fragility, economic instability and other global challenges.