In terms of recent developments, global trends show a significant reduction in child labor over the last couple of decades. However, there is wide dispersion in the progress that different countries have achieved. See all interactive charts on child labor ↓.

The country that uses child labor the most in the world is South Sudan, with a score of 48 (percentage of children who have ever engaged in child labor), with 50% of male and 47% of female children involved.

Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that are not harmful to them. However, they are classified as child labourers when they are either too young to work or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development.

Jun 9, 2021 · The latest global estimates indicate that the number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years. 63 …

Jan 22, 2020 · In this layer, you will see the age range of child laborers in different countries around the world. Along with the percentage and overall total. The darkest parts of my map represent places where child labor is high. The light colored ones represent the low.

The majority of child labour takes place in agriculture (58.6 per cent of child labour according to ILO estimates). The cartogram also demonstrates that in absolute numbers Asia and the Pacific play an equally prominent role.

Jan 24, 2025 · Country surveys define the ages for child labor as 5-17. The data here have been recalculated to present statistics for children ages 7-14. International Labour Organization, UNICEF and World Bank (2025) – processed by Our World in Data.

This report describes the scale and key characteristics of child labor in the world today and how these have changed over time. The findings of this report, based on global survey data, show that progress against child labor has largely stalled since 2016.

Share of children ages 5-17 involved in economic activity for at least one hour in the reference week of the corresponding survey (irrespective of school attendance).

Child labour remains a persistent problem in the world today. The latest global estimates indicate that 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide.