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<!doctype html><html class="js-disabled"><head><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1"/><title>Child Labor - Our World in Data</title><meta name="description" content="Why and where do children work? How did child labor change over time?"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor"/><link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" href="/atom.xml" title="Atom feed for Our World in Data"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/apple-touch-icon.png"/><link rel="preload" href="/fonts/LatoLatin-Regular.woff2" as="font" type="font/woff2" crossorigin="anonymous"/><meta property="fb:app_id" content="1149943818390250"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor"/><meta property="og:title" content="Child Labor"/><meta property="og:description" content="Why and where do children work? 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How did child labor change over time?"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://ourworldindata.org/images/published/child-labor-thumbnail.png"/><link rel="modulepreload" href="/assets/owid.mjs"/><link rel="preload" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/polyfill/v3/polyfill.min.js?version=4.8.0&features=es2019,es2020,es2021,es2022,es2023,IntersectionObserver,IntersectionObserverEntry,ResizeObserver,globalThis" as="script" data-cloudflare-disable-early-hints="true"/><link rel="preload" href="/assets/owid.css" as="style"/><link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/owid.css"/><meta name="citation_title" content="Child Labor"/><meta name="citation_fulltext_html_url" content="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor"/><meta name="citation_fulltext_world_readable" content=""/><meta name="citation_publication_date" content="2024/03/18"/><meta name="citation_journal_title" content="Our World in Data"/><meta name="citation_journal_abbrev" content="Our World in Data"/><meta name="citation_author" content="Esteban Ortiz-Ospina"/><meta name="citation_author" content="Max Roser"/><script>window._OWID_GDOC_PROPS = {"slug":"child-labor","published":true,"createdAt":"2023-11-10T15:26:36.000Z","publishedAt":"2016-02-01T15:27:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2024-03-18T09:19:28.000Z","revisionId":"ALBJ4LsxOmXZL4OATZ7mcQIDuyTaLXqrJePpcOZx7imCbhW-WPZ9H4wHVhlNfXMKh_FfJpVc6YFubS8RrU0zOQ","markdown":"The International Labour Organisation states in its [2013 World Report on Child Labour ](http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do?type=document&id=26977)that there were around 265 million working children in the world—almost 17 per cent of the worldwide child population. According to the publicly available data discussed in more detail below, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent.\n\nWhile absolute numbers are still high, particularly in those countries with the lowest standards of living, from a historical viewpoint there are concrete examples of countries that managed to virtually eliminate widespread child labor in the course of a century. The United Kingdom is a case in point. 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.\n\n### Related topics\n\n### undefined\nundefined\nhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1hSWF1NwryQM9g_Cb7nPVk7l05uSRYQjFnmq2vjCB0tE/edit\n\n### undefined\nundefined\nhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgY4yOurKwC1NSioTP6kFDEJP39Cc6ndWUqk4x-fIug/edit\n\n**[See all interactive charts on child labor ↓](#all-charts)**\n\n# Long-run history of child labor in today's rich countries\n\nHistorical studies suggest that child work was widespread in Europe and North America in the 19th century, but declined very rapidly at the turn of the 20th century. The available historical evidence seems consistent with the fact that industrialisation in Western countries initially increased the demand for child labor, but then eventually contributed towards its elimination.1\n\nThe visualizations show the share of children in employment for the UK and the United States at the turn of the 20th century. For the US chart you can add data on rural versus urban child labor trends: for both boys and girls, the incidence of child labor was higher in rural populations.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-the-uk\"/>\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-the-united-states-1890-1930\"/>\n\nWhilst consistent survey data on child labor in the UK is limited beyond 1911, some estimates of 20th century labor have emerged. These statistics show the significant impact of the First and Second World Wars on childhood employment. Following a reported spike in employment during the First World War (1914-1918), rates of childhood labor appeared to fall to approximately 6-7 per cent of children aged 12-14 in England and Wales.2\n\nThis would make the UK's rate of reduction in child labor slightly faster than that of the United States. However, with the onset of the Second World War in 1939, the incidence of child employment appeared to show another spike- by 1944, this had increased again to 15.3 percent of 12-14 year olds.2\n\n### Long-run history of child labor in Italy\n\nhttps://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-italy\n\n## A global comparison\n\nHow do the child labor figures above compare to current global estimates? This visualization plots the series for the UK, US, and also Italy, together with two recent global series. The different series in this chart are not perfectly comparable because of differences in the definitions. However, they do provide a rough sense of perspective.\n\nAs we can see, the incidence of child labor in England in 1900 was similar to global incidence a century later. Global rates of child labor today are similar to those of Italy in the 1950's at around 10 per cent. In the next [section](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#global-overview-today) we explore these series in more detail and discuss recent developments.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence\"/>\n\n# Global view on child labor today\n\n## The incidence of child labor has been going down in more recent years\n\nA complete and overview of recent global trends in child labor can be found in the ILO's report _ [Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)](http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf)_3 produced by the organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). This report presents global estimates and trends for the period 2000-2012.\n\nThe two charts here show the ILO report data. This first chart presents the previous changes in the world-wide share of children (ages 5-17) in employment.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-2\"/>\n\nAs we discuss [below](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement), there is a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate ages for measuring child labor, particularly for the purpose of cross-country comparisons and global aggregates. The age bracket ranging from 5 to 17 years of age is common in many UN reports, but there is evidently a need to differentiate work at different ages, since children in their teenage years are less vulnerable to workplace abuse. Other common age brackets are 5-11 and 5-14 years of age.\n\nThe second chart presents global trends using estimates in two age brackets: 5-14 and 15-17 years of age. Unfortunately these global estimates are not broken down by gender, and are not available for other age brackets. However, the pattern is consistent with the remark made above: child labor was going down in previous years.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups\"/>\n\n## The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades\n\nThe ILO Programme on Estimates and Projections of the Economically Active Population (EPEAP) has been producing statistics on labor force participation (for adults and children) since 1950, through the ILO's cross-country database known as LABORSTA. Basu (1999)4 uses this source to produce global labor force participation rates for children (ages 10-14) in the period 1950-1995.\n\nThis visualization presents the corresponding trend using the data published in Basu (1999).\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour\"/>\n\nWhile these estimates are informative about child labor, they cannot be linked directly to those of children in employment published by the ILO IPEC for the period 2000-2012 due to issues of comparability; specifically, the IPEC and EPEAP estimates discussed above rely on different survey instruments covering a different set of countries, and break up the relevant population in different age brackets.\n\nMany studies rely on the LABORSTA data to shed light on the extent of child labor in the 20th century. However, this source is generally believed to understate the extent of child labor, since data is not collected for work inside the household (not even market work).\n\nNonetheless, regardless of discrepancies between these two sources, the trends tell a consistent story: the share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades.\n\n## Where do children work?\n\nContrary to popular perception, most working children in the world are unpaid family workers, rather than paid workers in manufacturing establishments or other forms of wage employment. [This visualization](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_ilo-breakdown-global-child-labour.png)5 shows a breakdown of 2012 global estimates of child labor by employment status.\n\nSchultz and Strauss (2008)6 compile information from a number of different sources (mostly country-specific datasets from national statistics offices—see the original paper for detailed sources) to provide a picture of the industrial composition of economically active children. [This table](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_industialcomposition.png)7 presents their results. In almost every listed country, a majority of economically active children work in agriculture, forestry, or fishing.\n\nA point that is also worth emphasizing here is the lack of consistency in the age brackets for which child labor estimates are available.\n\n## Child labor across countries today\n\n### How does the incidence of child labor vary across countries?\n\nThis visualization shows the share of children (7-14 years) in employment for a number of countries (for the years in which data is publicly available from the World Bank consolidated dataset).\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour\"/>\n\nAs can be seen, the prevalence of child labor varies widely by country; for instance, the share of children in employment (here defined in terms of being economically active for one hour a week) was fifteen times larger in Uganda than in Turkey according to 2006 estimates. While most countries exhibit a downward trend, many countries are lagging.\n\nSwitch to the map view in this chart to compare the level of child labor between countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent, and also the region where progress has been slowest and least consistent.\n\n### What fraction of working children are not attending school?\n\nAs we discuss in more detail [below](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement), child labor is by definition problematic whenever it interferes with the children's development. Because of this it is informative to study child labor specifically when it is coupled with absence from school.\n\nThe visualization here shows the share of children in employment who work only (i.e. those children who are economically active _and_ do not attend school).\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-working-children-who-work-only\"/>\n\nAgain, there is wide variation across countries; while in Latin America the majority of children who are economically active also attend school, in sub-Saharan Africa this is not the case. However, trends are encouraging on the whole, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the problem is most acute. The next section exploring correlates, determinants and consequences of child labor, provides more information about the link between work and school attendance.\n\n### How many hours do working children actually work?\n\nThe harmful consequences of child labor are partly determined by the intensity of work, and how it affects time allocation in other activities, such as playing or learning (more on this [below](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#general-definition)). Hence, to understand child labor it is crucial to understand time allocation.\n\nThe chart shows, country by country, the weekly average of hours worked by children (ages 7-14) who are economically active.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children\"/>\n\nAs we can see, average hours worked by children vary widely across countries, [even at similar levels of GDP per capita](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/weekly-hours-worked-by-children-7-14-vs-gdp-per-capita-ppp). For example, while average incomes in Bangladesh and Nepal are roughly similar, in the former economically active children spend more than three times as much time working.\n\nIn fact, even across countries with similar labor force participation of children, [differences in average hours worked](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-in-employment-ages-7-14-vs-weekly-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14) are large.\n\n## Current gender gaps\n\nIn the majority of countries boys are more likely than girls to be engaged in economic activity. The visualization here presents the incidence of child employment for boys vs. girls by country, according to estimates made available by the World Bank.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls\"/>\n\nThe diagonal line marks equal values for boys and girls. We can see that most countries lie below the diagonal line.\n\n# Child labor and schooling\n\nAs has already been mentioned, child labor is particularly problematic to the extent that it hinders the children's development, notably by interfering with schooling. Since time is a scarce resource, the extent to which children's employment is linked to school attendance depends on the type and number of hours worked.\n\nIn countries where children tend to work longer hours, it is more common that working children remain out of school.\n\nThe chart here shows this by plotting country-level average hours worked by children against the share of working children who are out of school.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14\"/>\n\nThe chart shows aggregates, but we can see a similar relationship between school attendance and hours worked using micro data (i.e., plotting the relationship by pooling observations across individual households).\n\nThe [visualization from Schultz and Strauss (2008)](https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_schoolvswork.png) presents evidence of this link using micro data from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (2000 and 2001).6 It plots school attendance rates for children 10–14 against total hours worked in the last week (by type of work) with 95 percent confidence intervals (labeled CI and plotted in lighter shades).\n\nThe steepest part of the curves are in the range 20-45 hours, suggesting — as one would naturally expect — that it is most difficult for a child to attend school when approaching full-time work. This evidence also shows that there are no significant differences by domestic or marketed work.\n\n## Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?\n\nThe above relationship between work and schooling is informative about the impact of children's work on schooling, but is not sufficient to establish causality; there are many potential economic and cultural factors that simultaneously influence both schooling and work decisions. And in any case, the direction of the relationships is not obvious—do children work because they are not attending school, or do they fail to attend school _because_ they are working?\n\nA number of academic studies have tried to establish causality by attempting to find a factor (an 'instrumental variable') that only affects whether a child works without affecting how the family values other uses of the child's time.8 While these studies can be criticized on the grounds of the validity of the instrumental variables used, they seem to agree on the fact that there is a stronger association between child labor and schooling than the raw data would suggest.\n\n# Child labor and income\n\nCross-country data on child labor and economic growth suggests a strong negative correlation between economic status and child labor.\n\nThe visualization depicts the cross-country incidence of child labor (share of children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity) against GDP per capita. To provide some context regarding the absolute number of children, each country's observation is pictured as a circle where the size of the circle represents the population aged 5-14.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita\"/>\n\nThis chart cannot be interpreted causally; as before, countries differ in many aspects that may be associated with child labor choices and income. But there are a number of reasons why, conceptually, child labor might indeed be _caused_ by poor living conditions. For example, children might only work if the parents are unable to meet subsistence conditions; or it could be the case that parents allocate more of the children's time to schooling as they afford the necessary inputs for schooling (text-books, uniforms, etc).\n\nPartly following this logic, several countries have implemented cash transfer programmes in an attempt to discourage child labor and increase schooling. The idea behind these programmes is that the cash transfers are conditioned on a number of desirable actions, including sending children to school; and in doing so, they lower the relative costs of schooling and raise family income.\n\nSchultz (2004)9 evaluates one such program in Mexico (the so-called 'Progresa' program) and finds a significant reduction in wage and market work associated with eligibility for Progresa.\n\n# Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps\n\n## Definitions and measurement\n\n### General definition\n\nBroadly speaking, the term “child labor” is defined as the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood and dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.\n\nThe ILO defines child labor as work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and that interferes with the children’s schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, either by obliging them to leave school prematurely, or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (a general definition along these lines can be found in the ILO's [Child Labour website](http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm)). The ILO’s Convention No. 138, adopted in 1973 and ratified by most countries of the world, stipulates the relevant ages that different countries use to define child labor.\n\n### Hours worked and age classification\n\nAccording to the definition provided above, whether or not a given job is considered 'child labor' depends on the details of the actual context — the child’s age, the number of hours worked and the type of tasks performed. The chart here, from Hilowitz (2004)10, shows a diagrammatic classification of child labor (shaded region) depending on age and type of work.\n\nThis chart shows why it is difficult to produce estimates of child labor that are suitable for cross-country comparisons: there are differences in legislation, and age matters relative to the type of work.\n\n<Image filename=\"Hilowitz-2014.png\"/>\n\nAccording to the conceptual classification used by the ILO, children in child labor include those in [worst forms of child labor](https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm) and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work — where \"permissible light work\" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).11\n\nGlobal aggregates and cross-country data are not publicly available for 'children in child labor' as per the conceptual definition above. The ILO tends to report figures of economically active children for the broadest age bracket (5-17 years of age). The World Bank – World Development Indicators also report figures of economically active children, but use a narrower age definition (7-14 years of age). In both cases, 'economically active' refers to children who work for at least one hour during a reference week.\n\nBecause of the limitations of the data, academic studies often focus on children’s time allocation, which leaves more room for exploring the consequences of employment on other activities, such as school attendance. These studies tend to rely on country-specific survey data.\n\n### Terminology\n\nMany studies distinguish between 'children in child labor' and 'children in employment', while using the terms 'working children', 'children in economic activity' and 'children in employment' interchangeably. In such cases, the former ('children in child labor') are considered a subset of the latter ('children in employment' or any of the aforementioned interchangeable terms).\n\nAs noted above, children in child labor include those in [worst forms of child labor](http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm worst forms of child labour ) and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work—where \"permissible light work\" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).11\n\n## Data quality\n\nSchultz and Strauss (2008) provide a complete account of the particular challenges that arise from measuring children employment through household surveys. The authors highlight difficulties arising from coverage (i.e. capturing the most vulnerable children through random sampling) and accuracy (i.e. misreported hours worked and sensitivity to the recall period used).\n\nCunningham and Viazzo (1996) and Humphries (2010)12 note similar challenges in the use of national census and household survey data for accurate coverage of the incidence of child labor. There remains a generally accepted consensus that census data is likely to underestimate the scale of child labor for several reasons. This is particularly important in case of later censuses, where national regulation required children to be in education; in this case, child labor was likely to be underreported, for fear of prosecution. These estimates therefore often underrepresent the numerous children, particularly girls, who worked unpaid at home. Since census results typically capture data from households, this often limits coverage to children who live within a family household. This can exclude children either orphaned, or living on the streets- in many cases, we might expect the incidence of child labor to be more prevalent in these demographics.\n\nSpecifically regarding the information published by the World Bank in their World Development Indicators, it is important to highlight that, while definitions are standardized (children in employment are always defined as those children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity for at least one hour in the reference week of the corresponding survey), the data-collection instruments are not standardized across the different sub-sources feeding the consolidated dataset. It is because of this that many policy reports (such as the much-referenced report [Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)](http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf)) 'homogenize' the data before reporting estimates, by correcting for discrepancies in the underlying survey instruments. Those visualizations presented here that use the consolidated data published by the World Bank have not been corrected.\n\nIssues of consistency across different survey instruments in the World Bank consolidated data can help us explain country-specific patterns that are otherwise difficult to interpret. Consider the case of India. As can be appreciated in this visualization, the incidence of child labor in India seems to jump up in 2006, only to go back in 2010 to the levels that would have been predicted with the observations from 2000 and 2005. After checking the [survey catalog](http://www.ucw-project.org/survey-catalogue.aspx), it becomes clear that the estimates for 2006 come from the country's Demographic and Health Survey, while those for the other years come from consecutive rounds of the National Sample Survey. Cases such as this illustrate why current academic studies typically rely on data stemming from a single survey instrument, such as UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.\n\n<Chart url=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour?country=~IND\"/>\n\n## Data and research gaps\n\nIn addition to the [above-mentioned](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#data-quality) difficulties related to measurement, there are also important limitations in the way child labor data is made available.\n\nAs pointed out [before](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#hours-worked-and-age-classification), most UN reports publish global child labor estimates for custom age brackets, and only sometimes break down estimates by gender and type of work (including distinctions for ‘light work’, ‘hazardous work’, etc.). To our knowledge, there are no publicly available cross-country estimates of the evolution of child labor, broken down simultaneously by gender, age and type of work.\n\nThis is unfortunate, since a set of time-series constructed from '[contingency tables](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingency_table)' cutting across age, gender and type of work would give us a much better picture of where to focus our efforts to fight child labor. Constructing such tables should be straightforward from the depurated micro-data used to produce the existing global reports.\n\nRelatedly, it would be similarly helpful if the depurated cross-country series published in the World Bank – World Development Indicators were expanded to account for more flexible definitions of economic activity beyond \"one hour of work in the reference week\".\n\nSome exercises along these lines have already been undertaken in academia. As we discuss [above](https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#child-labour-and-schooling), Schultz and Strauss (2008) present estimates of ‘children in economic activity’, by type of activity (market work and domestic work) and by number of hours worked. To do this, the authors used mainly UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) from 2000 and 2001. It would be extremely helpful for researchers and policymakers if such exercises were updated and published regularly in open-access data portals.\n\nRegarding gaps in empirical research, it is important to highlight the lack of robust evidence speaking to the consequences of child labor on future outcomes – such as the working children’s subsequent health and earnings in adulthood. Schultz and Strauss (2008) provide a summary of available evidence on this research front. The body of literature is thin and the econometric results tend to be fragile because of difficulties to establish causality.\n\nA related research question for which there is little robust empirical evidence is whether child labor is the result of ‘agency problems’ – namely, whether children work _because_ parents fail to fully consider the tradeoffs and costs that work has on their children.\n\n<AllCharts heading=\"Interactive charts on child labor\"/>\n\nSee Cunningham, Hugh, and Pier Paolo Viazzo. [Child Labour in Historical Perspective 1800-1985: Case Studies from Europe, Japan and Colombia](https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucf/hisper/hisper96-1.html). No. hisper96/1. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 1996, and the references therein.\n\nLavalette, M (1999). A Thing of the Past? Child Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Liverpool University Press.\n\nILO-IPEC, [Marking progress against child labour - Global estimates and trends 2000-2012](http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf) / International Labour Office, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) - Geneva: ILO, 2013.\n\nBasu, Kaushik. [Child labor: cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on international labor standards.](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.25.651&rep=rep1&type=pdf) Journal of Economic literature 37.3 (1999): 1083-1119.\n\nFigure 9 in _[Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)](http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf)_)\n\nEric V. Edmonds \"Child Labor\", Chapter 57 in T. Paul Schultz, John Strauss (2008), Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 4. North Holland\n\nNumbered as table 5 in Schultz and Strauss (2008)\n\nRosati, F., Rossi, M. (2003). [Children’s working hours and school enrollment: Evidence from Pakistan and Nicaragua](ftp://www.ceistorvergata.it/repec/rpaper/No-25-Rosati,Rossi.pdf). World Bank Economic Review 17, 283–295.\n\nGunnarsson, V., Orazem, P., Sanchez, M. (2006). [Child labor and school achievement in Latin America](http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/orazem/Child%20Labor%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf). World Bank Economic Review 20, 31–54.\n\nSchultz, T.W. (2004). [School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program](http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp834.pdf). Journal of Development Economics 74, 199–250.\n\nHilowitz, Janet. Child Labour: A textbook for university students. International Labour Office, 2004.\n\nILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. [Global child labour trends 2008 to 2012](http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_23015/lang--en/index.htm). ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). (Geneva, ILO, 2013).\n\nHumphries, J., Childhood and child labor in the British industrial revolution (Cambridge, 2010)","publicationContext":"unlisted","breadcrumbs":null,"tags":[{"id":186,"name":"Child Labor","slug":"child-labor"}],"errors":[],"imageMetadata":{"child-labor-thumbnail.png":{"id":1495,"googleId":"1SGfeLmG4xXYkq_t1XhwpG1Vtkyi0JKsr","filename":"child-labor-thumbnail.png","defaultAlt":"A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. 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going down in more recent years","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"the-share-of-economically-active-children-in-the-world-has-been-going-down-for-decades","text":"The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades","title":"The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"where-do-children-work","text":"Where do children work?","title":"Where do children work?","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"child-labor-across-countries-today","text":"Child labor across countries today","title":"Child labor across countries today","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"current-gender-gaps","text":"Current gender gaps","title":"Current gender gaps","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"child-labor-and-schooling","text":"Child labor and schooling","title":"Child labor and schooling","supertitle":"","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"is-there-a-causal-relationship-between-children-s-work-and-schooling","text":"Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?","title":"Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"child-labor-and-income","text":"Child labor and income","title":"Child labor and income","supertitle":"","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"definitions-data-quality-and-empirical-gaps","text":"Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps","title":"Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps","supertitle":"","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"definitions-and-measurement","text":"Definitions and measurement","title":"Definitions and measurement","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"data-quality","text":"Data quality","title":"Data quality","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"data-and-research-gaps","text":"Data and research gaps","title":"Data and research gaps","supertitle":"","isSubheading":true},{"slug":"all-charts","text":"Interactive charts on child labor","title":"Interactive charts on child labor","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"article-endnotes","text":"Endnotes","title":"Endnotes","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"article-citation","text":"Citation","title":"Citation","isSubheading":false},{"slug":"article-licence","text":"Licence","title":"Licence","isSubheading":false}],"body":[{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The International Labour Organisation states in its ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do?type=document&id=26977","children":[{"text":"2013 World Report on Child Labour ","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":"that there were around 265 million working children in the world—almost 17 per cent of the worldwide child population. According to the publicly available data discussed in more detail below, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"While absolute numbers are still high, particularly in those countries with the lowest standards of living, from a historical viewpoint there are concrete examples of countries that managed to virtually eliminate widespread child labor in the course of a century. The United Kingdom is a case in point. 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.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Related topics","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hSWF1NwryQM9g_Cb7nPVk7l05uSRYQjFnmq2vjCB0tE/edit","type":"prominent-link","parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zgY4yOurKwC1NSioTP6kFDEJP39Cc6ndWUqk4x-fIug/edit","type":"prominent-link","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"children":[{"url":"#all-charts","children":[{"text":"See all interactive charts on child labor ↓","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"}],"spanType":"span-bold"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Long-run history of child labor in today's rich countries","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":1,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Historical studies suggest that child work was widespread in Europe and North America in the 19th century, but declined very rapidly at the turn of the 20th century. The available historical evidence seems consistent with the fact that industrialisation in Western countries initially increased the demand for child labor, but then eventually contributed towards its elimination.","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-1","children":[{"children":[{"text":"1","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The visualizations show the share of children in employment for the UK and the United States at the turn of the 20th century. For the US chart you can add data on rural versus urban child labor trends: for both boys and girls, the incidence of child labor was higher in rural populations.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"left":[{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-the-uk","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]}],"type":"side-by-side","right":[{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-the-united-states-1890-1930","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Whilst consistent survey data on child labor in the UK is limited beyond 1911, some estimates of 20th century labor have emerged. These statistics show the significant impact of the First and Second World Wars on childhood employment. Following a reported spike in employment during the First World War (1914-1918), rates of childhood labor appeared to fall to approximately 6-7 per cent of children aged 12-14 in England and Wales.","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-2","children":[{"children":[{"text":"2","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This would make the UK's rate of reduction in child labor slightly faster than that of the United States. However, with the onset of the Second World War in 1939, the incidence of child employment appeared to show another spike- by 1944, this had increased again to 15.3 percent of 12-14 year olds.","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-2","children":[{"children":[{"text":"2","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-italy","type":"prominent-link","title":"Long-run history of child labor in Italy","description":"","parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"A global comparison","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"How do the child labor figures above compare to current global estimates? This visualization plots the series for the UK, US, and also Italy, together with two recent global series. The different series in this chart are not perfectly comparable because of differences in the definitions. However, they do provide a rough sense of perspective.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As we can see, the incidence of child labor in England in 1900 was similar to global incidence a century later. Global rates of child labor today are similar to those of Italy in the 1950's at around 10 per cent. In the next ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#global-overview-today","children":[{"text":"section","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" we explore these series in more detail and discuss recent developments.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Global view on child labor today","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":1,"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"The incidence of child labor has been going down in more recent years","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"A complete and overview of recent global trends in child labor can be found in the ILO's report ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"children":[{"text":" ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf","children":[{"text":"Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"}],"spanType":"span-italic"},{"url":"#note-3","children":[{"children":[{"text":"3","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" produced by the organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). This report presents global estimates and trends for the period 2000-2012.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The two charts here show the ILO report data. This first chart presents the previous changes in the world-wide share of children (ages 5-17) in employment.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-2","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As we discuss ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement","children":[{"text":"below","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":", there is a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate ages for measuring child labor, particularly for the purpose of cross-country comparisons and global aggregates. The age bracket ranging from 5 to 17 years of age is common in many UN reports, but there is evidently a need to differentiate work at different ages, since children in their teenage years are less vulnerable to workplace abuse. Other common age brackets are 5-11 and 5-14 years of age.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The second chart presents global trends using estimates in two age brackets: 5-14 and 15-17 years of age. Unfortunately these global estimates are not broken down by gender, and are not available for other age brackets. However, the pattern is consistent with the remark made above: child labor was going down in previous years.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The ILO Programme on Estimates and Projections of the Economically Active Population (EPEAP) has been producing statistics on labor force participation (for adults and children) since 1950, through the ILO's cross-country database known as LABORSTA. Basu (1999)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-4","children":[{"children":[{"text":"4","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" uses this source to produce global labor force participation rates for children (ages 10-14) in the period 1950-1995.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This visualization presents the corresponding trend using the data published in Basu (1999).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"While these estimates are informative about child labor, they cannot be linked directly to those of children in employment published by the ILO IPEC for the period 2000-2012 due to issues of comparability; specifically, the IPEC and EPEAP estimates discussed above rely on different survey instruments covering a different set of countries, and break up the relevant population in different age brackets.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Many studies rely on the LABORSTA data to shed light on the extent of child labor in the 20th century. However, this source is generally believed to understate the extent of child labor, since data is not collected for work inside the household (not even market work).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Nonetheless, regardless of discrepancies between these two sources, the trends tell a consistent story: the share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Where do children work?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Contrary to popular perception, most working children in the world are unpaid family workers, rather than paid workers in manufacturing establishments or other forms of wage employment. ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_ilo-breakdown-global-child-labour.png","children":[{"text":"This visualization","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"url":"#note-5","children":[{"children":[{"text":"5","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" shows a breakdown of 2012 global estimates of child labor by employment status.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Schultz and Strauss (2008)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-6","children":[{"children":[{"text":"6","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" compile information from a number of different sources (mostly country-specific datasets from national statistics offices—see the original paper for detailed sources) to provide a picture of the industrial composition of economically active children. ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_industialcomposition.png","children":[{"text":"This table","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"url":"#note-7","children":[{"children":[{"text":"7","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" presents their results. In almost every listed country, a majority of economically active children work in agriculture, forestry, or fishing.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"A point that is also worth emphasizing here is the lack of consistency in the age brackets for which child labor estimates are available.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Child labor across countries today","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"How does the incidence of child labor vary across countries?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This visualization shows the share of children (7-14 years) in employment for a number of countries (for the years in which data is publicly available from the World Bank consolidated dataset).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As can be seen, the prevalence of child labor varies widely by country; for instance, the share of children in employment (here defined in terms of being economically active for one hour a week) was fifteen times larger in Uganda than in Turkey according to 2006 estimates. While most countries exhibit a downward trend, many countries are lagging.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Switch to the map view in this chart to compare the level of child labor between countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent, and also the region where progress has been slowest and least consistent.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"What fraction of working children are not attending school?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As we discuss in more detail ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement","children":[{"text":"below","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":", child labor is by definition problematic whenever it interferes with the children's development. Because of this it is informative to study child labor specifically when it is coupled with absence from school.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The visualization here shows the share of children in employment who work only (i.e. those children who are economically active ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"children":[{"text":"and","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-italic"},{"text":" do not attend school).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-working-children-who-work-only","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Again, there is wide variation across countries; while in Latin America the majority of children who are economically active also attend school, in sub-Saharan Africa this is not the case. However, trends are encouraging on the whole, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the problem is most acute. The next section exploring correlates, determinants and consequences of child labor, provides more information about the link between work and school attendance.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"How many hours do working children actually work?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The harmful consequences of child labor are partly determined by the intensity of work, and how it affects time allocation in other activities, such as playing or learning (more on this ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#general-definition","children":[{"text":"below","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":"). Hence, to understand child labor it is crucial to understand time allocation.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The chart shows, country by country, the weekly average of hours worked by children (ages 7-14) who are economically active.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As we can see, average hours worked by children vary widely across countries, ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/weekly-hours-worked-by-children-7-14-vs-gdp-per-capita-ppp","children":[{"text":"even at similar levels of GDP per capita","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":". For example, while average incomes in Bangladesh and Nepal are roughly similar, in the former economically active children spend more than three times as much time working.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"In fact, even across countries with similar labor force participation of children, ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-in-employment-ages-7-14-vs-weekly-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14","children":[{"text":"differences in average hours worked","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" are large.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Current gender gaps","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"In the majority of countries boys are more likely than girls to be engaged in economic activity. The visualization here presents the incidence of child employment for boys vs. girls by country, according to estimates made available by the World Bank.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The diagonal line marks equal values for boys and girls. We can see that most countries lie below the diagonal line.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Child labor and schooling","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":1,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As has already been mentioned, child labor is particularly problematic to the extent that it hinders the children's development, notably by interfering with schooling. Since time is a scarce resource, the extent to which children's employment is linked to school attendance depends on the type and number of hours worked.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"In countries where children tend to work longer hours, it is more common that working children remain out of school.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The chart here shows this by plotting country-level average hours worked by children against the share of working children who are out of school.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The chart shows aggregates, but we can see a similar relationship between school attendance and hours worked using micro data (i.e., plotting the relationship by pooling observations across individual households).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_schoolvswork.png","children":[{"text":"visualization from Schultz and Strauss (2008)","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" presents evidence of this link using micro data from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (2000 and 2001).","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-6","children":[{"children":[{"text":"6","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" It plots school attendance rates for children 10–14 against total hours worked in the last week (by type of work) with 95 percent confidence intervals (labeled CI and plotted in lighter shades).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The steepest part of the curves are in the range 20-45 hours, suggesting — as one would naturally expect — that it is most difficult for a child to attend school when approaching full-time work. This evidence also shows that there are no significant differences by domestic or marketed work.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The above relationship between work and schooling is informative about the impact of children's work on schooling, but is not sufficient to establish causality; there are many potential economic and cultural factors that simultaneously influence both schooling and work decisions. And in any case, the direction of the relationships is not obvious—do children work because they are not attending school, or do they fail to attend school ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"children":[{"text":"because","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-italic"},{"text":" they are working?","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"A number of academic studies have tried to establish causality by attempting to find a factor (an 'instrumental variable') that only affects whether a child works without affecting how the family values other uses of the child's time.","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-8","children":[{"children":[{"text":"8","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" While these studies can be criticized on the grounds of the validity of the instrumental variables used, they seem to agree on the fact that there is a stronger association between child labor and schooling than the raw data would suggest.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Child labor and income","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":1,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Cross-country data on child labor and economic growth suggests a strong negative correlation between economic status and child labor.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The visualization depicts the cross-country incidence of child labor (share of children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity) against GDP per capita. To provide some context regarding the absolute number of children, each country's observation is pictured as a circle where the size of the circle represents the population aged 5-14.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This chart cannot be interpreted causally; as before, countries differ in many aspects that may be associated with child labor choices and income. But there are a number of reasons why, conceptually, child labor might indeed be ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"children":[{"text":"caused","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-italic"},{"text":" by poor living conditions. For example, children might only work if the parents are unable to meet subsistence conditions; or it could be the case that parents allocate more of the children's time to schooling as they afford the necessary inputs for schooling (text-books, uniforms, etc).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Partly following this logic, several countries have implemented cash transfer programmes in an attempt to discourage child labor and increase schooling. The idea behind these programmes is that the cash transfers are conditioned on a number of desirable actions, including sending children to school; and in doing so, they lower the relative costs of schooling and raise family income.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Schultz (2004)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-9","children":[{"children":[{"text":"9","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" evaluates one such program in Mexico (the so-called 'Progresa' program) and finds a significant reduction in wage and market work associated with eligibility for Progresa.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":1,"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Definitions and measurement","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"General definition","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Broadly speaking, the term “child labor” is defined as the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood and dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"The ILO defines child labor as work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and that interferes with the children’s schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, either by obliging them to leave school prematurely, or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (a general definition along these lines can be found in the ILO's ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm","children":[{"text":"Child Labour website","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":"). The ILO’s Convention No. 138, adopted in 1973 and ratified by most countries of the world, stipulates the relevant ages that different countries use to define child labor.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Hours worked and age classification","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"According to the definition provided above, whether or not a given job is considered 'child labor' depends on the details of the actual context — the child’s age, the number of hours worked and the type of tasks performed. The chart here, from Hilowitz (2004)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-10","children":[{"children":[{"text":"10","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":", shows a diagrammatic classification of child labor (shaded region) depending on age and type of work.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This chart shows why it is difficult to produce estimates of child labor that are suitable for cross-country comparisons: there are differences in legislation, and age matters relative to the type of work.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"size":"wide","type":"image","caption":[{"text":"Basic classification of child labor standards by age – Hilowitz (2004)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-10","children":[{"children":[{"text":"10","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"filename":"Hilowitz-2014.png","parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"According to the conceptual classification used by the ILO, children in child labor include those in ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm","children":[{"text":"worst forms of child labor","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work — where \"permissible light work\" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-11","children":[{"children":[{"text":"11","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Global aggregates and cross-country data are not publicly available for 'children in child labor' as per the conceptual definition above. The ILO tends to report figures of economically active children for the broadest age bracket (5-17 years of age). The World Bank – World Development Indicators also report figures of economically active children, but use a narrower age definition (7-14 years of age). In both cases, 'economically active' refers to children who work for at least one hour during a reference week.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Because of the limitations of the data, academic studies often focus on children’s time allocation, which leaves more room for exploring the consequences of employment on other activities, such as school attendance. These studies tend to rely on country-specific survey data.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Terminology","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":3,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Many studies distinguish between 'children in child labor' and 'children in employment', while using the terms 'working children', 'children in economic activity' and 'children in employment' interchangeably. In such cases, the former ('children in child labor') are considered a subset of the latter ('children in employment' or any of the aforementioned interchangeable terms).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As noted above, children in child labor include those in ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm worst forms of child labour ","children":[{"text":"worst forms of child labor","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work—where \"permissible light work\" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-11","children":[{"children":[{"text":"11","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Data quality","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Schultz and Strauss (2008) provide a complete account of the particular challenges that arise from measuring children employment through household surveys. The authors highlight difficulties arising from coverage (i.e. capturing the most vulnerable children through random sampling) and accuracy (i.e. misreported hours worked and sensitivity to the recall period used).","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Cunningham and Viazzo (1996) and Humphries (2010)","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"#note-12","children":[{"children":[{"text":"12","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-superscript"}],"spanType":"span-ref"},{"text":" note similar challenges in the use of national census and household survey data for accurate coverage of the incidence of child labor. There remains a generally accepted consensus that census data is likely to underestimate the scale of child labor for several reasons. This is particularly important in case of later censuses, where national regulation required children to be in education; in this case, child labor was likely to be underreported, for fear of prosecution. These estimates therefore often underrepresent the numerous children, particularly girls, who worked unpaid at home. Since census results typically capture data from households, this often limits coverage to children who live within a family household. This can exclude children either orphaned, or living on the streets- in many cases, we might expect the incidence of child labor to be more prevalent in these demographics.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Specifically regarding the information published by the World Bank in their World Development Indicators, it is important to highlight that, while definitions are standardized (children in employment are always defined as those children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity for at least one hour in the reference week of the corresponding survey), the data-collection instruments are not standardized across the different sub-sources feeding the consolidated dataset. It is because of this that many policy reports (such as the much-referenced report ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf","children":[{"text":"Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":") 'homogenize' the data before reporting estimates, by correcting for discrepancies in the underlying survey instruments. Those visualizations presented here that use the consolidated data published by the World Bank have not been corrected.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Issues of consistency across different survey instruments in the World Bank consolidated data can help us explain country-specific patterns that are otherwise difficult to interpret. Consider the case of India. As can be appreciated in this visualization, the incidence of child labor in India seems to jump up in 2006, only to go back in 2010 to the levels that would have been predicted with the observations from 2000 and 2005. After checking the ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ucw-project.org/survey-catalogue.aspx","children":[{"text":"survey catalog","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":", it becomes clear that the estimates for 2006 come from the country's Demographic and Health Survey, while those for the other years come from consecutive rounds of the National Sample Survey. Cases such as this illustrate why current academic studies typically rely on data stemming from a single survey instrument, such as UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour?country=~IND","type":"chart","parseErrors":[]},{"text":[{"text":"Data and research gaps","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"type":"heading","level":2,"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"In addition to the ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#data-quality","children":[{"text":"above-mentioned","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" difficulties related to measurement, there are also important limitations in the way child labor data is made available.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"As pointed out ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#hours-worked-and-age-classification","children":[{"text":"before","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":", most UN reports publish global child labor estimates for custom age brackets, and only sometimes break down estimates by gender and type of work (including distinctions for ‘light work’, ‘hazardous work’, etc.). To our knowledge, there are no publicly available cross-country estimates of the evolution of child labor, broken down simultaneously by gender, age and type of work.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"This is unfortunate, since a set of time-series constructed from '","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingency_table","children":[{"text":"contingency tables","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":"' cutting across age, gender and type of work would give us a much better picture of where to focus our efforts to fight child labor. Constructing such tables should be straightforward from the depurated micro-data used to produce the existing global reports.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Relatedly, it would be similarly helpful if the depurated cross-country series published in the World Bank – World Development Indicators were expanded to account for more flexible definitions of economic activity beyond \"one hour of work in the reference week\".","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Some exercises along these lines have already been undertaken in academia. As we discuss ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#child-labour-and-schooling","children":[{"text":"above","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":", Schultz and Strauss (2008) present estimates of ‘children in economic activity’, by type of activity (market work and domestic work) and by number of hours worked. To do this, the authors used mainly UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) from 2000 and 2001. It would be extremely helpful for researchers and policymakers if such exercises were updated and published regularly in open-access data portals.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Regarding gaps in empirical research, it is important to highlight the lack of robust evidence speaking to the consequences of child labor on future outcomes – such as the working children’s subsequent health and earnings in adulthood. Schultz and Strauss (2008) provide a summary of available evidence on this research front. The body of literature is thin and the econometric results tend to be fragile because of difficulties to establish causality.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"A related research question for which there is little robust empirical evidence is whether child labor is the result of ‘agency problems’ – namely, whether children work ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"children":[{"text":"because","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-italic"},{"text":" parents fail to fully consider the tradeoffs and costs that work has on their children.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"top":[],"type":"all-charts","heading":"Interactive charts on child labor","parseErrors":[]}],"refs":{"errors":[],"definitions":{"0c12efdaeb4ffc1d943b93e3604794d74d28bbfb":{"id":"0c12efdaeb4ffc1d943b93e3604794d74d28bbfb","index":3,"content":[{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Basu, Kaushik. ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.25.651&rep=rep1&type=pdf","children":[{"text":"Child labor: cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on international labor standards.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":" Journal of Economic literature 37.3 (1999): 1083-1119.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]}],"parseErrors":[]},"60dc492dcfd50a6eaa4c149601726e338b21abda":{"id":"60dc492dcfd50a6eaa4c149601726e338b21abda","index":7,"content":[{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Rosati, F., Rossi, M. (2003). ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"ftp://www.ceistorvergata.it/repec/rpaper/No-25-Rosati,Rossi.pdf","children":[{"text":"Children’s working hours and school enrollment: Evidence from Pakistan and Nicaragua","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":". World Bank Economic Review 17, 283–295.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]},{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Gunnarsson, V., Orazem, P., Sanchez, M. (2006). ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/orazem/Child%20Labor%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf","children":[{"text":"Child labor and school achievement in Latin America","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":". World Bank Economic Review 20, 31–54.","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]}],"parseErrors":[]},"6e58180da44f01f0d92a4a0c8a9743739929ea01":{"id":"6e58180da44f01f0d92a4a0c8a9743739929ea01","index":11,"content":[{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"Humphries, J., Childhood and child labor in the British industrial revolution (Cambridge, 2010)","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"parseErrors":[]}],"parseErrors":[]},"74c67768a9f766ab91a35d12f9d2c43dd1cf2269":{"id":"74c67768a9f766ab91a35d12f9d2c43dd1cf2269","index":10,"content":[{"type":"text","value":[{"text":"ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. ","spanType":"span-simple-text"},{"url":"http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_23015/lang--en/index.htm","children":[{"text":"Global child labour trends 2008 to 2012","spanType":"span-simple-text"}],"spanType":"span-link"},{"text":". ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). 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id="admin-link">Admin</a></div><article class="centered-article-container grid grid-cols-12-full-width centered-article-container--linear-topic-page"><header class="topic-page-header grid span-cols-14 grid-cols-12-full-width"><h1 class="display-1-semibold col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2">Child Labor</h1><p class="topic-page-header__subtitle body-1-regular col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2">Why and where do children work? How did child labor change over time?</p><p class="topic-page-header__byline col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2">By: <a href="/team/esteban-ortiz-ospina">Esteban Ortiz-Ospina</a> and <a href="/team/max-roser">Max Roser</a></p><p class="topic-page-header__dateline body-3-medium-italic col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2">This page was first published in February 2016 and last revised in January 2024.</p></header><div class="toc-wrapper"><div class=""></div><aside class="entry-sidebar"><nav class="entry-toc"><ul><li><a href="#" data-track-note="toc_header">Child Labor</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#long-run-history-of-child-labor-in-today-s-rich-countries" data-track-note="toc_link">Long-run history of child labor in today's rich countries</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#a-global-comparison" data-track-note="toc_link">A global comparison</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#global-view-on-child-labor-today" data-track-note="toc_link">Global view on child labor today</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#the-incidence-of-child-labor-has-been-going-down-in-more-recent-years" data-track-note="toc_link">The incidence of child labor has been going down in more recent years</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#the-share-of-economically-active-children-in-the-world-has-been-going-down-for-decades" data-track-note="toc_link">The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#where-do-children-work" data-track-note="toc_link">Where do children work?</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#child-labor-across-countries-today" data-track-note="toc_link">Child labor across countries today</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#current-gender-gaps" data-track-note="toc_link">Current gender gaps</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#child-labor-and-schooling" data-track-note="toc_link">Child labor and schooling</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#is-there-a-causal-relationship-between-children-s-work-and-schooling" data-track-note="toc_link">Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#child-labor-and-income" data-track-note="toc_link">Child labor and income</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#definitions-data-quality-and-empirical-gaps" data-track-note="toc_link">Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#definitions-and-measurement" data-track-note="toc_link">Definitions and measurement</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#data-quality" data-track-note="toc_link">Data quality</a></li><li class="subsection"><a href="#data-and-research-gaps" data-track-note="toc_link">Data and research gaps</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#all-charts" data-track-note="toc_link">Interactive charts on child labor</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#article-endnotes" data-track-note="toc_link">Endnotes</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#article-citation" data-track-note="toc_link">Citation</a></li><li class="section"><a href="#article-licence" data-track-note="toc_link">Licence</a></li></ul></nav><div class="toggle-toc"><button data-track-note="page_toggle_toc" aria-label="Open table of contents"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="bars" class="svg-inline--fa fa-bars " role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512"><path fill="currentColor" d="M0 96C0 78.3 14.3 64 32 64H416c17.7 0 32 14.3 32 32s-14.3 32-32 32H32C14.3 128 0 113.7 0 96zM0 256c0-17.7 14.3-32 32-32H416c17.7 0 32 14.3 32 32s-14.3 32-32 32H32c-17.7 0-32-14.3-32-32zM448 416c0 17.7-14.3 32-32 32H32c-17.7 0-32-14.3-32-32s14.3-32 32-32H416c17.7 0 32 14.3 32 32z"></path></svg><span class="label">Contents</span></button></div></aside></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The International Labour Organisation states in its </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do?type=document&id=26977" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>2013 World Report on Child Labour </span></a><span>that there were around 265 million working children in the world—almost 17 per cent of the worldwide child population. According to the publicly available data discussed in more detail below, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>While absolute numbers are still high, particularly in those countries with the lowest standards of living, from a historical viewpoint there are concrete examples of countries that managed to virtually eliminate widespread child labor in the course of a century. The United Kingdom is a case in point. 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.</span></p><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="related-topics"><span>Related topics</span><a class="deep-link" href="#related-topics"></a></h3><a class="article-block__prominent-link grid grid-cols-6 span-cols-6 col-start-5 span-md-cols-10 col-md-start-3 grid-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 grid-sm-cols-12 prominent-link" href="/violence-against-rights-for-children"><div class="prominent-link__image span-sm-cols-3 span-md-cols-2"><picture class=""><source srcSet="/images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail_48.png 48w, /images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail_100.png 100w, /images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail_350.png 350w, /images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail_850.png 850w, /images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail_1200.png 1200w" type="image/png" sizes="350px"/><img src="/images/published/violence-against-rights-for-children-thumbnail.png" alt="A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Violence Against Children and Children's Rights by Our World in Data" class="" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="630"/></picture></div><div class="col-sm-start-4 col-md-start-3 col-start-2 col-end-limit"><div class="prominent-link__heading-wrapper"><h3 class="h3-bold">Violence Against Children and Children’s Rights</h3></div><p class="body-3-medium">How does the protection of children’s rights differ across countries? How often is violence used against them?</p></div></a><a class="article-block__prominent-link grid grid-cols-6 span-cols-6 col-start-5 span-md-cols-10 col-md-start-3 grid-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 grid-sm-cols-12 prominent-link" href="/human-rights"><div class="prominent-link__image span-sm-cols-3 span-md-cols-2"><picture class=""><source srcSet="/images/published/human-rights-featured-image_48.png 48w, /images/published/human-rights-featured-image_100.png 100w, /images/published/human-rights-featured-image_350.png 350w, /images/published/human-rights-featured-image_850.png 850w, /images/published/human-rights-featured-image_1200.png 1200w" type="image/png" sizes="350px"/><img src="/images/published/human-rights-featured-image.png" alt="Featured image for the topic page on Human Rights. Stylized world map with topic name on top." class="" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="630"/></picture></div><div class="col-sm-start-4 col-md-start-3 col-start-2 col-end-limit"><div class="prominent-link__heading-wrapper"><h3 class="h3-bold">Human Rights</h3></div><p class="body-3-medium">How has the protection of human rights changed over time? How does it differ across countries, and between social groups? Explore global data on human rights.</p></div></a><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><strong><a href="#all-charts" class="span-link"><span>See all interactive charts on child labor ↓</span></a></strong></p><h1 class="h1-semibold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="long-run-history-of-child-labor-in-today-s-rich-countries"><span>Long-run history of child labor in today's rich countries</span><a class="deep-link" href="#long-run-history-of-child-labor-in-today-s-rich-countries"></a></h1><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Historical studies suggest that child work was widespread in Europe and North America in the 19th century, but declined very rapidly at the turn of the 20th century. The available historical evidence seems consistent with the fact that industrialisation in Western countries initially increased the demand for child labor, but then eventually contributed towards its elimination.</span><a href="#note-1" class="ref"><sup><span>1</span></sup></a></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The visualizations show the share of children in employment for the UK and the United States at the turn of the 20th century. For the US chart you can add data on rural versus urban child labor trends: for both boys and girls, the incidence of child labor was higher in rural populations.</span></p><div class="article-block__side-by-side grid span-cols-12 col-start-2"><div class="grid grid-cols-6 span-cols-6 span-sm-cols-12"><div class="article-block__chart span-cols-6 span-sm-cols-12 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-uk" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-uk.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div></div><div class="grid grid-cols-6 span-cols-6 span-sm-cols-12"><div class="article-block__chart span-cols-6 span-sm-cols-12 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-1890-1930" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-1890-1930" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-1890-1930.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div></div></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Whilst consistent survey data on child labor in the UK is limited beyond 1911, some estimates of 20th century labor have emerged. These statistics show the significant impact of the First and Second World Wars on childhood employment. Following a reported spike in employment during the First World War (1914-1918), rates of childhood labor appeared to fall to approximately 6-7 per cent of children aged 12-14 in England and Wales.</span><a href="#note-2" class="ref"><sup><span>2</span></sup></a></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This would make the UK's rate of reduction in child labor slightly faster than that of the United States. However, with the onset of the Second World War in 1939, the incidence of child employment appeared to show another spike- by 1944, this had increased again to 15.3 percent of 12-14 year olds.</span><a href="#note-2" class="ref"><sup><span>2</span></sup></a></p><a class="article-block__prominent-link grid grid-cols-6 span-cols-6 col-start-5 span-md-cols-10 col-md-start-3 grid-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 grid-sm-cols-12 prominent-link" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-italy"><div class="prominent-link__image span-sm-cols-3 span-md-cols-2"><img src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-italy.svg"/></div><div class="col-sm-start-4 col-md-start-3 col-start-2 col-end-limit"><div class="prominent-link__heading-wrapper"><h3 class="h3-bold">Long-run history of child labor in Italy</h3></div></div></a><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="a-global-comparison"><span>A global comparison</span><a class="deep-link" href="#a-global-comparison"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>How do the child labor figures above compare to current global estimates? This visualization plots the series for the UK, US, and also Italy, together with two recent global series. The different series in this chart are not perfectly comparable because of differences in the definitions. However, they do provide a rough sense of perspective.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As we can see, the incidence of child labor in England in 1900 was similar to global incidence a century later. Global rates of child labor today are similar to those of Italy in the 1950's at around 10 per cent. In the next </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#global-overview-today" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>section</span></a><span> we explore these series in more detail and discuss recent developments.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><h1 class="h1-semibold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="global-view-on-child-labor-today"><span>Global view on child labor today</span><a class="deep-link" href="#global-view-on-child-labor-today"></a></h1><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="the-incidence-of-child-labor-has-been-going-down-in-more-recent-years"><span>The incidence of child labor has been going down in more recent years</span><a class="deep-link" href="#the-incidence-of-child-labor-has-been-going-down-in-more-recent-years"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>A complete and overview of recent global trends in child labor can be found in the ILO's report </span><em><span> </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)</span></a></em><a href="#note-3" class="ref"><sup><span>3</span></sup></a><span> produced by the organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). This report presents global estimates and trends for the period 2000-2012.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The two charts here show the ILO report data. This first chart presents the previous changes in the world-wide share of children (ages 5-17) in employment.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labor-2" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labor-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labor-2.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As we discuss </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>below</span></a><span>, there is a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate ages for measuring child labor, particularly for the purpose of cross-country comparisons and global aggregates. The age bracket ranging from 5 to 17 years of age is common in many UN reports, but there is evidently a need to differentiate work at different ages, since children in their teenage years are less vulnerable to workplace abuse. Other common age brackets are 5-11 and 5-14 years of age.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The second chart presents global trends using estimates in two age brackets: 5-14 and 15-17 years of age. Unfortunately these global estimates are not broken down by gender, and are not available for other age brackets. However, the pattern is consistent with the remark made above: child labor was going down in previous years.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="the-share-of-economically-active-children-in-the-world-has-been-going-down-for-decades"><span>The share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades</span><a class="deep-link" href="#the-share-of-economically-active-children-in-the-world-has-been-going-down-for-decades"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The ILO Programme on Estimates and Projections of the Economically Active Population (EPEAP) has been producing statistics on labor force participation (for adults and children) since 1950, through the ILO's cross-country database known as LABORSTA. Basu (1999)</span><a href="#note-4" class="ref"><sup><span>4</span></sup></a><span> uses this source to produce global labor force participation rates for children (ages 10-14) in the period 1950-1995.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This visualization presents the corresponding trend using the data published in Basu (1999).</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labour.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>While these estimates are informative about child labor, they cannot be linked directly to those of children in employment published by the ILO IPEC for the period 2000-2012 due to issues of comparability; specifically, the IPEC and EPEAP estimates discussed above rely on different survey instruments covering a different set of countries, and break up the relevant population in different age brackets.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Many studies rely on the LABORSTA data to shed light on the extent of child labor in the 20th century. However, this source is generally believed to understate the extent of child labor, since data is not collected for work inside the household (not even market work).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Nonetheless, regardless of discrepancies between these two sources, the trends tell a consistent story: the share of economically active children in the world has been going down for decades.</span></p><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="where-do-children-work"><span>Where do children work?</span><a class="deep-link" href="#where-do-children-work"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Contrary to popular perception, most working children in the world are unpaid family workers, rather than paid workers in manufacturing establishments or other forms of wage employment. </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_ilo-breakdown-global-child-labour.png" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>This visualization</span></a><a href="#note-5" class="ref"><sup><span>5</span></sup></a><span> shows a breakdown of 2012 global estimates of child labor by employment status.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Schultz and Strauss (2008)</span><a href="#note-6" class="ref"><sup><span>6</span></sup></a><span> compile information from a number of different sources (mostly country-specific datasets from national statistics offices—see the original paper for detailed sources) to provide a picture of the industrial composition of economically active children. </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_industialcomposition.png" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>This table</span></a><a href="#note-7" class="ref"><sup><span>7</span></sup></a><span> presents their results. In almost every listed country, a majority of economically active children work in agriculture, forestry, or fishing.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>A point that is also worth emphasizing here is the lack of consistency in the age brackets for which child labor estimates are available.</span></p><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="child-labor-across-countries-today"><span>Child labor across countries today</span><a class="deep-link" href="#child-labor-across-countries-today"></a></h2><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="how-does-the-incidence-of-child-labor-vary-across-countries"><span>How does the incidence of child labor vary across countries?</span><a class="deep-link" href="#how-does-the-incidence-of-child-labor-vary-across-countries"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This visualization shows the share of children (7-14 years) in employment for a number of countries (for the years in which data is publicly available from the World Bank consolidated dataset).</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As can be seen, the prevalence of child labor varies widely by country; for instance, the share of children in employment (here defined in terms of being economically active for one hour a week) was fifteen times larger in Uganda than in Turkey according to 2006 estimates. While most countries exhibit a downward trend, many countries are lagging.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Switch to the map view in this chart to compare the level of child labor between countries. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where child labor is most prevalent, and also the region where progress has been slowest and least consistent.</span></p><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="what-fraction-of-working-children-are-not-attending-school"><span>What fraction of working children are not attending school?</span><a class="deep-link" href="#what-fraction-of-working-children-are-not-attending-school"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As we discuss in more detail </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#definitions-and-measurement" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>below</span></a><span>, child labor is by definition problematic whenever it interferes with the children's development. Because of this it is informative to study child labor specifically when it is coupled with absence from school.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The visualization here shows the share of children in employment who work only (i.e. those children who are economically active </span><em><span>and</span></em><span> do not attend school).</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-working-children-who-work-only" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-working-children-who-work-only" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/share-of-working-children-who-work-only.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Again, there is wide variation across countries; while in Latin America the majority of children who are economically active also attend school, in sub-Saharan Africa this is not the case. However, trends are encouraging on the whole, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where the problem is most acute. The next section exploring correlates, determinants and consequences of child labor, provides more information about the link between work and school attendance.</span></p><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="how-many-hours-do-working-children-actually-work"><span>How many hours do working children actually work?</span><a class="deep-link" href="#how-many-hours-do-working-children-actually-work"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The harmful consequences of child labor are partly determined by the intensity of work, and how it affects time allocation in other activities, such as playing or learning (more on this </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#general-definition" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>below</span></a><span>). Hence, to understand child labor it is crucial to understand time allocation.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The chart shows, country by country, the weekly average of hours worked by children (ages 7-14) who are economically active.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/average-working-hours-of-children.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As we can see, average hours worked by children vary widely across countries, </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/weekly-hours-worked-by-children-7-14-vs-gdp-per-capita-ppp" class="span-link"><span>even at similar levels of GDP per capita</span></a><span>. For example, while average incomes in Bangladesh and Nepal are roughly similar, in the former economically active children spend more than three times as much time working.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>In fact, even across countries with similar labor force participation of children, </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-in-employment-ages-7-14-vs-weekly-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14" class="span-link"><span>differences in average hours worked</span></a><span> are large.</span></p><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="current-gender-gaps"><span>Current gender gaps</span><a class="deep-link" href="#current-gender-gaps"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>In the majority of countries boys are more likely than girls to be engaged in economic activity. The visualization here presents the incidence of child employment for boys vs. girls by country, according to estimates made available by the World Bank.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The diagonal line marks equal values for boys and girls. We can see that most countries lie below the diagonal line.</span></p><h1 class="h1-semibold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="child-labor-and-schooling"><span>Child labor and schooling</span><a class="deep-link" href="#child-labor-and-schooling"></a></h1><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As has already been mentioned, child labor is particularly problematic to the extent that it hinders the children's development, notably by interfering with schooling. Since time is a scarce resource, the extent to which children's employment is linked to school attendance depends on the type and number of hours worked.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>In countries where children tend to work longer hours, it is more common that working children remain out of school.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The chart here shows this by plotting country-level average hours worked by children against the share of working children who are out of school.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The chart shows aggregates, but we can see a similar relationship between school attendance and hours worked using micro data (i.e., plotting the relationship by pooling observations across individual households).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2016/02/ourworldindata_schoolvswork.png" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>visualization from Schultz and Strauss (2008)</span></a><span> presents evidence of this link using micro data from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (2000 and 2001).</span><a href="#note-6" class="ref"><sup><span>6</span></sup></a><span> It plots school attendance rates for children 10–14 against total hours worked in the last week (by type of work) with 95 percent confidence intervals (labeled CI and plotted in lighter shades).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The steepest part of the curves are in the range 20-45 hours, suggesting — as one would naturally expect — that it is most difficult for a child to attend school when approaching full-time work. This evidence also shows that there are no significant differences by domestic or marketed work.</span></p><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="is-there-a-causal-relationship-between-children-s-work-and-schooling"><span>Is there a causal relationship between children's work and schooling?</span><a class="deep-link" href="#is-there-a-causal-relationship-between-children-s-work-and-schooling"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The above relationship between work and schooling is informative about the impact of children's work on schooling, but is not sufficient to establish causality; there are many potential economic and cultural factors that simultaneously influence both schooling and work decisions. And in any case, the direction of the relationships is not obvious—do children work because they are not attending school, or do they fail to attend school </span><em><span>because</span></em><span> they are working?</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>A number of academic studies have tried to establish causality by attempting to find a factor (an 'instrumental variable') that only affects whether a child works without affecting how the family values other uses of the child's time.</span><a href="#note-8" class="ref"><sup><span>8</span></sup></a><span> While these studies can be criticized on the grounds of the validity of the instrumental variables used, they seem to agree on the fact that there is a stronger association between child labor and schooling than the raw data would suggest.</span></p><h1 class="h1-semibold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="child-labor-and-income"><span>Child labor and income</span><a class="deep-link" href="#child-labor-and-income"></a></h1><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Cross-country data on child labor and economic growth suggests a strong negative correlation between economic status and child labor.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The visualization depicts the cross-country incidence of child labor (share of children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity) against GDP per capita. To provide some context regarding the absolute number of children, each country's observation is pictured as a circle where the size of the circle represents the population aged 5-14.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This chart cannot be interpreted causally; as before, countries differ in many aspects that may be associated with child labor choices and income. But there are a number of reasons why, conceptually, child labor might indeed be </span><em><span>caused</span></em><span> by poor living conditions. For example, children might only work if the parents are unable to meet subsistence conditions; or it could be the case that parents allocate more of the children's time to schooling as they afford the necessary inputs for schooling (text-books, uniforms, etc).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Partly following this logic, several countries have implemented cash transfer programmes in an attempt to discourage child labor and increase schooling. The idea behind these programmes is that the cash transfers are conditioned on a number of desirable actions, including sending children to school; and in doing so, they lower the relative costs of schooling and raise family income.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Schultz (2004)</span><a href="#note-9" class="ref"><sup><span>9</span></sup></a><span> evaluates one such program in Mexico (the so-called 'Progresa' program) and finds a significant reduction in wage and market work associated with eligibility for Progresa.</span></p><h1 class="h1-semibold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="definitions-data-quality-and-empirical-gaps"><span>Definitions, Data Quality and Empirical Gaps</span><a class="deep-link" href="#definitions-data-quality-and-empirical-gaps"></a></h1><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="definitions-and-measurement"><span>Definitions and measurement</span><a class="deep-link" href="#definitions-and-measurement"></a></h2><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="general-definition"><span>General definition</span><a class="deep-link" href="#general-definition"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Broadly speaking, the term “child labor” is defined as the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood and dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>The ILO defines child labor as work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and that interferes with the children’s schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, either by obliging them to leave school prematurely, or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (a general definition along these lines can be found in the ILO's </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Child Labour website</span></a><span>). The ILO’s Convention No. 138, adopted in 1973 and ratified by most countries of the world, stipulates the relevant ages that different countries use to define child labor.</span></p><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="hours-worked-and-age-classification"><span>Hours worked and age classification</span><a class="deep-link" href="#hours-worked-and-age-classification"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>According to the definition provided above, whether or not a given job is considered 'child labor' depends on the details of the actual context — the child’s age, the number of hours worked and the type of tasks performed. The chart here, from Hilowitz (2004)</span><a href="#note-10" class="ref"><sup><span>10</span></sup></a><span>, shows a diagrammatic classification of child labor (shaded region) depending on age and type of work.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This chart shows why it is difficult to produce estimates of child labor that are suitable for cross-country comparisons: there are differences in legislation, and age matters relative to the type of work.</span></p><figure class="article-block__image article-block__image--wide col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-2 span-md-cols-12"><picture class=""><source srcSet="/images/published/Hilowitz-2014_48.png 48w, /images/published/Hilowitz-2014_100.png 100w, /images/published/Hilowitz-2014_350.png 350w, /images/published/Hilowitz-2014_850.png 850w, /images/published/Hilowitz-2014_998.png 998w" type="image/png" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 95vw, (min-width: 960px) 853px"/><img src="/images/published/Hilowitz-2014.png" alt="legacy-wordpress-upload" class="lightbox-image" loading="lazy" width="998" height="884"/></picture><figcaption class="article-block__image-caption col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Basic classification of child labor standards by age – Hilowitz (2004)</span><a href="#note-10" class="ref"><sup><span>10</span></sup></a></figcaption></figure><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>According to the conceptual classification used by the ILO, children in child labor include those in </span><a href="https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>worst forms of child labor</span></a><span> and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work — where "permissible light work" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).</span><a href="#note-11" class="ref"><sup><span>11</span></sup></a></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Global aggregates and cross-country data are not publicly available for 'children in child labor' as per the conceptual definition above. The ILO tends to report figures of economically active children for the broadest age bracket (5-17 years of age). The World Bank – World Development Indicators also report figures of economically active children, but use a narrower age definition (7-14 years of age). In both cases, 'economically active' refers to children who work for at least one hour during a reference week.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Because of the limitations of the data, academic studies often focus on children’s time allocation, which leaves more room for exploring the consequences of employment on other activities, such as school attendance. These studies tend to rely on country-specific survey data.</span></p><h3 class="h3-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="terminology"><span>Terminology</span><a class="deep-link" href="#terminology"></a></h3><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Many studies distinguish between 'children in child labor' and 'children in employment', while using the terms 'working children', 'children in economic activity' and 'children in employment' interchangeably. In such cases, the former ('children in child labor') are considered a subset of the latter ('children in employment' or any of the aforementioned interchangeable terms).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As noted above, children in child labor include those in </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/WorstFormsofChildLabour/lang--en/index.htm worst forms of child labour " class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>worst forms of child labor</span></a><span> and children in employment below the minimum age, excluding children in permissible light work—where "permissible light work" is defined as any non-hazardous work by children (ages 12 to 14) of less than 14 hours during the reference week (for more details see ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. (2013)).</span><a href="#note-11" class="ref"><sup><span>11</span></sup></a></p><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="data-quality"><span>Data quality</span><a class="deep-link" href="#data-quality"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Schultz and Strauss (2008) provide a complete account of the particular challenges that arise from measuring children employment through household surveys. The authors highlight difficulties arising from coverage (i.e. capturing the most vulnerable children through random sampling) and accuracy (i.e. misreported hours worked and sensitivity to the recall period used).</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Cunningham and Viazzo (1996) and Humphries (2010)</span><a href="#note-12" class="ref"><sup><span>12</span></sup></a><span> note similar challenges in the use of national census and household survey data for accurate coverage of the incidence of child labor. There remains a generally accepted consensus that census data is likely to underestimate the scale of child labor for several reasons. This is particularly important in case of later censuses, where national regulation required children to be in education; in this case, child labor was likely to be underreported, for fear of prosecution. These estimates therefore often underrepresent the numerous children, particularly girls, who worked unpaid at home. Since census results typically capture data from households, this often limits coverage to children who live within a family household. This can exclude children either orphaned, or living on the streets- in many cases, we might expect the incidence of child labor to be more prevalent in these demographics.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Specifically regarding the information published by the World Bank in their World Development Indicators, it is important to highlight that, while definitions are standardized (children in employment are always defined as those children aged 7-14 involved in economic activity for at least one hour in the reference week of the corresponding survey), the data-collection instruments are not standardized across the different sub-sources feeding the consolidated dataset. It is because of this that many policy reports (such as the much-referenced report </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)</span></a><span>) 'homogenize' the data before reporting estimates, by correcting for discrepancies in the underlying survey instruments. Those visualizations presented here that use the consolidated data published by the World Bank have not been corrected.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Issues of consistency across different survey instruments in the World Bank consolidated data can help us explain country-specific patterns that are otherwise difficult to interpret. Consider the case of India. As can be appreciated in this visualization, the incidence of child labor in India seems to jump up in 2006, only to go back in 2010 to the levels that would have been predicted with the observations from 2000 and 2005. After checking the </span><a href="http://www.ucw-project.org/survey-catalogue.aspx" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>survey catalog</span></a><span>, it becomes clear that the estimates for 2006 come from the country's Demographic and Health Survey, while those for the other years come from consecutive rounds of the National Sample Survey. Cases such as this illustrate why current academic studies typically rely on data stemming from a single survey instrument, such as UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.</span></p><div class="article-block__chart col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2 full-width-on-mobile"><figure class="grapherPreview chart" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour?country=~IND" data-grapher-config="{}" style="width:100%;border:0px none"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour?country=~IND" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/><div class="interactionNotice"><span class="icon"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="hand-pointer" class="svg-inline--fa fa-hand-pointer fa-w-14" role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 617"> <path fill="currentColor" d="M448,344.59v96a40.36,40.36,0,0,1-1.06,9.16l-32,136A40,40,0,0,1,376,616.59H168a40,40,0,0,1-32.35-16.47l-128-176a40,40,0,0,1,64.7-47.06L104,420.58v-276a40,40,0,0,1,80,0v200h8v-40a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v40h8v-24a40,40,0,1,1,80,0v24h8a40,40,0,1,1,80,0Zm-256,80h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Zm88,0h-8v96h8Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> <path fill="currentColor" opacity="0.6" d="M239.76,234.78A27.5,27.5,0,0,1,217,192a87.76,87.76,0,1,0-145.9,0A27.5,27.5,0,1,1,25.37,222.6,142.17,142.17,0,0,1,1.24,143.17C1.24,64.45,65.28.41,144,.41s142.76,64,142.76,142.76a142.17,142.17,0,0,1-24.13,79.43A27.47,27.47,0,0,1,239.76,234.78Z" transform="translate(0 -0.41)"/> </svg></span><span class="label">Click to open interactive version</span></div></a></figure></div><h2 class="h2-bold article-block__heading col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2" id="data-and-research-gaps"><span>Data and research gaps</span><a class="deep-link" href="#data-and-research-gaps"></a></h2><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>In addition to the </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#data-quality" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>above-mentioned</span></a><span> difficulties related to measurement, there are also important limitations in the way child labor data is made available.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>As pointed out </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#hours-worked-and-age-classification" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>before</span></a><span>, most UN reports publish global child labor estimates for custom age brackets, and only sometimes break down estimates by gender and type of work (including distinctions for ‘light work’, ‘hazardous work’, etc.). To our knowledge, there are no publicly available cross-country estimates of the evolution of child labor, broken down simultaneously by gender, age and type of work.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>This is unfortunate, since a set of time-series constructed from '</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contingency_table" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>contingency tables</span></a><span>' cutting across age, gender and type of work would give us a much better picture of where to focus our efforts to fight child labor. Constructing such tables should be straightforward from the depurated micro-data used to produce the existing global reports.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Relatedly, it would be similarly helpful if the depurated cross-country series published in the World Bank – World Development Indicators were expanded to account for more flexible definitions of economic activity beyond "one hour of work in the reference week".</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Some exercises along these lines have already been undertaken in academia. As we discuss </span><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor/#child-labour-and-schooling" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>above</span></a><span>, Schultz and Strauss (2008) present estimates of ‘children in economic activity’, by type of activity (market work and domestic work) and by number of hours worked. To do this, the authors used mainly UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) from 2000 and 2001. It would be extremely helpful for researchers and policymakers if such exercises were updated and published regularly in open-access data portals.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Regarding gaps in empirical research, it is important to highlight the lack of robust evidence speaking to the consequences of child labor on future outcomes – such as the working children’s subsequent health and earnings in adulthood. Schultz and Strauss (2008) provide a summary of available evidence on this research front. The body of literature is thin and the econometric results tend to be fragile because of difficulties to establish causality.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>A related research question for which there is little robust empirical evidence is whether child labor is the result of ‘agency problems’ – namely, whether children work </span><em><span>because</span></em><span> parents fail to fully consider the tradeoffs and costs that work has on their children.</span></p><div class="article-block__all-charts col-start-2 span-cols-12"><h1 class="article-block__heading h1-semibold" id="all-charts">Interactive charts on child labor<a class="deep-link" href="#all-charts"></a></h1><div class="related-charts"><div class="grid grid-cols-12"><div class="related-charts__thumbnails span-cols-5 span-md-cols-12"><ul class="related-charts__list"><li class="active"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/average-working-hours-of-children.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Average weekly working hours of children</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-uk"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-uk.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Child labor</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-italy"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-italy.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Child labor in Italy</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-1890-1930"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-1890-1930.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Child labor in the United States</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-in-employment-ages-7-14-vs-weekly-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/children-in-employment-ages-7-14-vs-weekly-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Children in employment vs. hours worked by children</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labor-2"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labor-2.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Global incidence of child labor</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labour-by-age-groups.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Global incidence of child labor by age groups</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-incidence-of-child-labour"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/global-incidence-of-child-labour.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Global share of children aged 10-14 in the labor force</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Incidence of child labor in the United States</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/percentage-of-children-in-employment-by-sex"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/percentage-of-children-in-employment-by-sex.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Percentage of children (aged 7-14) in employment by sex</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-aged-5-17-engaged-in-labor"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/children-aged-5-17-engaged-in-labor.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of children engaged in labor</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/children-aged-5-17-years-engaged-in-labor"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/children-aged-5-17-years-engaged-in-labor.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of children engaged in labor by gender</span></a><span class="variantName">Scatterplot by gender</span></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of children in employment</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour-vs-gdp-per-capita.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of children in employment vs. GDP per capita</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/incidence-of-child-labour-boys-vs-girls.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of children in employment, boys vs. girls</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-working-children-who-work-only"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/share-of-working-children-who-work-only.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Share of working children who do not attend school</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/various-measures-of-child-labour-incidence.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Various measures of child labor incidence</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/weekly-hours-worked-by-children-7-14-vs-gdp-per-capita-ppp"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/weekly-hours-worked-by-children-7-14-vs-gdp-per-capita-ppp.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Weekly hours worked by children vs. GDP per capita</span></a></li><li class=""><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/working-children-out-of-school-ages-7-14-vs-hours-worked-by-children-ages-7-14.svg" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true" data-no-img-formatting="true"/><span>Working children out of school vs. hours worked by children</span></a></li></ul></div><div class="related-charts__chart span-cols-7 span-md-cols-12"><div class="related-charts__figure"><figure class="grapherPreview" data-grapher-src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children"><div class="js--hide-if-js-enabled"><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/average-working-hours-of-children"><img class="GrapherImage" src="https://assets.ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/average-working-hours-of-children.svg" alt="Average weekly working hours of children" width="850" height="600" loading="lazy" data-no-lightbox="true"/></a></div></figure></div><div class="gallery-navigation"><button aria-label="Go to previous slide" disabled="" class="gallery-arrow prev"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="arrow-left-long" class="svg-inline--fa fa-arrow-left-long " role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path fill="currentColor" d="M9.4 233.4c-12.5 12.5-12.5 32.8 0 45.3l128 128c12.5 12.5 32.8 12.5 45.3 0s12.5-32.8 0-45.3L109.3 288 480 288c17.7 0 32-14.3 32-32s-14.3-32-32-32l-370.7 0 73.4-73.4c12.5-12.5 12.5-32.8 0-45.3s-32.8-12.5-45.3 0l-128 128z"></path></svg></button><div class="gallery-pagination">Chart 1 of 19</div><button aria-label="Go to next slide" class="gallery-arrow next"><svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="arrow-left-long" class="svg-inline--fa fa-arrow-left-long fa-flip-horizontal " role="img" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path fill="currentColor" d="M9.4 233.4c-12.5 12.5-12.5 32.8 0 45.3l128 128c12.5 12.5 32.8 12.5 45.3 0s12.5-32.8 0-45.3L109.3 288 480 288c17.7 0 32-14.3 32-32s-14.3-32-32-32l-370.7 0 73.4-73.4c12.5-12.5 12.5-32.8 0-45.3s-32.8-12.5-45.3 0l-128 128z"></path></svg></button></div></div></div></div></div><section class="footnote-container grid grid-cols-12-full-width col-start-1 col-end-limit"><div class="col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 col-sm-start-2 span-sm-cols-12"><h3 id="article-endnotes">Endnotes</h3><ol class="footnote-list"><li id="note-1" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>See Cunningham, Hugh, and Pier Paolo Viazzo. </span><a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucf/hisper/hisper96-1.html" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Child Labour in Historical Perspective 1800-1985: Case Studies from Europe, Japan and Colombia</span></a><span>. No. hisper96/1. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 1996, and the references therein.</span></p></li><li id="note-2" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Lavalette, M (1999). A Thing of the Past? Child Labour in Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Liverpool University Press.</span></p></li><li id="note-3" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>ILO-IPEC, </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Marking progress against child labour - Global estimates and trends 2000-2012</span></a><span> / International Labour Office, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) - Geneva: ILO, 2013.</span></p></li><li id="note-4" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Basu, Kaushik. </span><a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.25.651&rep=rep1&type=pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Child labor: cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on international labor standards.</span></a><span> Journal of Economic literature 37.3 (1999): 1083-1119.</span></p></li><li id="note-5" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Figure 9 in </span><em><a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---ipec/documents/publication/wcms_221513.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Marking Progress Against Child Labour (2013)</span></a></em><span>)</span></p></li><li id="note-6" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Eric V. Edmonds "Child Labor", Chapter 57 in T. Paul Schultz, John Strauss (2008), Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 4. North Holland</span></p></li><li id="note-7" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Numbered as table 5 in Schultz and Strauss (2008)</span></p></li><li id="note-8" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Rosati, F., Rossi, M. (2003). </span><a href="ftp://www.ceistorvergata.it/repec/rpaper/No-25-Rosati,Rossi.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Children’s working hours and school enrollment: Evidence from Pakistan and Nicaragua</span></a><span>. World Bank Economic Review 17, 283–295.</span></p><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Gunnarsson, V., Orazem, P., Sanchez, M. (2006). </span><a href="http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/orazem/Child%20Labor%20in%20Latin%20America.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Child labor and school achievement in Latin America</span></a><span>. World Bank Economic Review 20, 31–54.</span></p></li><li id="note-9" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Schultz, T.W. (2004). </span><a href="http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp834.pdf" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>School subsidies for the poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa poverty program</span></a><span>. Journal of Development Economics 74, 199–250.</span></p></li><li id="note-10" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Hilowitz, Janet. Child Labour: A textbook for university students. International Labour Office, 2004.</span></p></li><li id="note-11" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>ILO-IPEC, Diallo, Y., et al. </span><a href="http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_23015/lang--en/index.htm" class="span-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>Global child labour trends 2008 to 2012</span></a><span>. ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). (Geneva, ILO, 2013).</span></p></li><li id="note-12" class="footnote-list__footnote"><p class="article-block__text col-start-5 span-cols-6 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 span-sm-cols-12 col-sm-start-2"><span>Humphries, J., Childhood and child labor in the British industrial revolution (Cambridge, 2010)</span></p></li></ol></div></section><section id="article-citation" class="grid grid-cols-12-full-width col-start-1 col-end-limit"><div class="col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 col-sm-start-2 span-sm-cols-12"><h3 class="align-center">Cite this work</h3><p>Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this topic page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This topic page can be cited as:</p><div><div class="wp-code-snippet wp-code-snippet--dark"><pre class="wp-block-code"><code class="wp-code-snippet__code">Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2016) - “Child Labor” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor' [Online Resource]</code></pre></div></div><p>BibTeX citation</p><div><div class="wp-code-snippet wp-code-snippet--dark"><pre class="wp-block-code"><code class="wp-code-snippet__code">@article{owid-child-labor, author = {Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser}, title = {Child Labor}, journal = {Our World in Data}, year = {2016}, note = {https://ourworldindata.org/child-labor} }</code></pre></div></div></div></section><section id="article-licence" class="grid grid-cols-12-full-width col-start-1 col-end-limit"><div class="col-start-4 span-cols-8 col-md-start-3 span-md-cols-10 col-sm-start-2 span-sm-cols-12"><img src="https://ourworldindata.org/owid-logo.svg" class="img-raw" alt="Our World in Data logo"/><h3>Reuse this work freely</h3><p>All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creative Commons BY license</a>. 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