A recent United Nations (UN) report has highlighted the persistent global challenge of child labour, revealing that 138 million children worldwide continue to work in factories and agricultural fields. According to The Times of India report, the UN has cautioned that at the current rate of progress, completely eliminating child labour could take "hundreds of years."
The 2024 data shows that nearly 40 per cent of these working children are engaged in hazardous conditions. The situation is particularly concerning for younger children, with approximately 80 million kids between the ages of 5 and 11 found to be working.
The international community had committed to ending child labour by 2025 under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework. However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) acknowledged in their joint report that "that timeline has now come to an end. But child labor has not."
Catherine Russell, Head of UNICEF, acknowledged that while there has been "significant progress" in slowing the growth rate of child labour, "far too many children continue to toil in mines, factories or fields, often doing hazardous work to survive."
The annual data reveals that 137.6 million children aged 5-17 were involved in child labour last year, representing about 7.8 per cent of all children in that age bracket. To put this in perspective, this figure is approximately twice the entire population of France.
Despite the alarming numbers, there has been notable improvement since 2000, when 246 million children, predominantly from impoverished families, were compelled to work. Following a concerning uptick between 2016 and 2020, the trend has reversed direction, with 20 million fewer children in the workforce.
The report identifies agriculture as the sector employing the highest number of children, followed by domestic work and other service industries.
UNICEF expert Claudia Cappa suggests that implementing measures such as free compulsory education and universal social protection systems can effectively protect children from exploitation.
