The ILO and UNICEF count 138 million children in child labour in 2024, down from 160 million in 2020. The increase recorded between 2016 and 2020 has been reversed, and the total is a little over half what it was in 2000.
A quarter of a billion children were in child labour in 2000, doing work that international standards judge too young, too long or too dangerous for their age. The number fell for sixteen years. Then, between 2016 and 2020, it rose, the first sustained increase in two decades. It has now turned back down: the International Labour Organization and UNICEF count 138 million children in child labour in 2024, about 22 million fewer than in 2020 and a little over half the 246 million of 2000.
How we know
The figures come from Child Labour: Global Estimates 2024, published on 11 June 2025 by the ILO and UNICEF, who pool national household surveys into a single global estimate every four years. The threshold is drawn by age and hours rather than by any judgement about children helping out. For 5 to 11 year olds, any economic work in a week counts. For 12 to 14 year olds the line sits at 14 hours a week, and for 15 to 17 year olds at work beyond 43 hours or at hazardous work, meaning work likely to harm a child's health, safety or morals. Agriculture accounts for 61 percent of the total, services, including domestic work and selling in markets, for 27 percent, and industry, including mining and manufacturing, for 13 percent. Boys are over-represented at every age, at 9 percent of 5 to 17 year olds against 7 percent of girls. The regional picture is uneven. Asia and the Pacific fell furthest, from 49 million children to 28 million, a rate down from 5.6 to 3.1 percent, and Latin America and the Caribbean recorded an 11 percent drop in numbers. Sub-Saharan Africa still holds about 87 million children, nearly two thirds of the world total, on a rate that fell from 23.9 to 21.5 percent.
Why it matters
The reversal settles a question that was open in 2021: whether the rise between 2016 and 2020 marked a new direction or a setback inside a long decline. On this count it was a setback, and the decline has resumed. What the figures do not do is put the finish line in reach. The world set itself the target of ending child labour by 2025 and missed it, and the arithmetic on what is left is blunt: the ILO calculates that clearing 138 million within five years would take progress eleven times faster than the rate achieved between 2020 and 2024. Of those children, 54 million are in hazardous work, so the hardest part of the problem is also the part that has to move fastest. The ILO's own reading points at adults rather than children: school places, and work paid well enough that a family does not need a child's earnings. The direction has been turned once already. Whether the pace changes is a decision rather than a forecast.
The count is still 138 million children, and 54 million of them are in hazardous work, the kind likely to damage their health, safety or development. About two in five of those are under 15, and nearly one in five is under 12. Sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for about 87 million children, nearly two thirds of the world total, on a rate that fell only from 23.9 to 21.5 percent. The measure also has a known blind spot: it counts economic work and not unpaid household chores, and analysis by France's national institute for demographic studies finds that applying comparable hour limits to housework makes the rate among 5 to 17 year olds about three times higher, with most of the difference falling on girls. And the target the world set itself, ending child labour by 2025, has already passed unmet.
What counts as child labour in these figures?
It is a measured threshold set by age and hours, not a judgement about children helping out. For children aged 5 to 11 any economic work in a week counts; for 12 to 14 year olds the line is 14 hours a week; and for 15 to 17 year olds it is hazardous work or work beyond 43 hours. On that definition 138 million children were in child labour in 2024, of whom 54 million were in hazardous work.
Does the count include housework?
No. The estimate covers economic work only, so unpaid chores at home sit outside it. France's national institute for demographic studies reports that applying comparable hour limits to household work makes the rate among 5 to 17 year olds about three times higher, and that most of that gap falls on girls.
Where are most of these children?
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 87 million, nearly two thirds of the global total, on a rate that fell from 23.9 to 21.5 percent. Asia and the Pacific fell furthest, from 49 million children to 28 million, and Latin America and the Caribbean recorded an 11 percent drop in numbers. Agriculture accounts for 61 percent of child labour worldwide.
Is the world on track to end child labour?
No. The target was to eliminate child labour by 2025, and it was missed. The ILO calculates that ending it within five years from the 2024 count would require progress eleven times faster than the rate achieved between 2020 and 2024.
- International Labour Organization and UNICEF, 2024 Global Estimates of Child Labour in figures Primary
- International Labour Organization and UNICEF, Despite progress, child labour still affects 138 million children globally
- Institut national d'etudes demographiques, Child labour affects 138 million children worldwide, and far more counting domestic work
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