On 12 June this year, the world observed Day Against Child Labour and missed 2025 target of eradicating child labour, in a stark reminder that eliminating this scourge was easier said than done.

Some 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were engaged in child labour at the beginning of 2020, according to the recent figures from the ILO and UNICEF. Of these, 79 million were involved in hazardous work that threatens their health, safety and survival. A sizeable number do not make it to become grown up adults.

After 2020, as per updated data of 2024 shows nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labour in 2024, including around 54 million in hazardous work. Which means there is a reduction of over 22 million children since 2020, reversing an alarming spike witnessed between 2016 and 2020.

The report that makes a despairing read, does point to an upside that  is these has been a marked drop of over 22 million children in hard lobour, though it still falls short of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target to abolish child labour by 2025.

Perhaps more children would have been spared, but for the Covid19 pandemic of 2020-21 which dealt a blow to recovery, Over 1.5 million schools closed across the world, forcing millions of children back into hard labour in a  setback to alleviation efforts. No latest government census is available, but available data shows most children (up to 61%) end as farm labours. India has the highest number.

“The findings of our report offer hope and show that progress is possible. Children belong in school, not in labour. Parents must themselves be supported and have access to decent work so that they can afford to ensure that their children are in classrooms and not selling things in markets or in agricultural farms to support their family,” said the ILO’s Director-General, Gilbert F. Houngbo.

According to the data, agriculture employs largest number of child labourers, accounting for 61 per cent of all cases, followed by services (27 per cent), like domestic work and selling goods in markets, and industry (13 per cent), including mining and manufacturing.

Asia and the Pacific achieved the most significant reduction in prevalence since 2020, with the child labour rate dropping from 6 per cent to 3 per cent (from 49 million to 28 million children). Although the prevalence of children in child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean stayed the same over the past four years, the total number of children affected dropped from 8 million to about 7 million, the report notes.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry the heaviest burden, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all children in child labour – around 87 million. While prevalence fell from 24 to 22 per cent, the total number has remained stagnant against the backdrop of population growth, ongoing and emerging conflicts, extreme poverty, and stretched social protection systems.

Boys are more likely than girls to be involved in child labour at every age, but when unpaid household chores of 21 hours or more per week are included, the gender gap reverses, the report notes.

Since 2000, child labour has almost halved, from 246 million to 138 million, yet current rates remain too slow, and the world has fallen short of reaching the 2025 global elimination target. To end it within the next five years, current rates of progress would need to be 11 times faster.

“The world has made significant progress in reducing the number of children forced into labour. Yet far too many children continue to toil in mines, factories or fields, often doing hazardous work to survive,” said Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF. 

“Global funding cuts threaten to roll back hard-earned gains. We must recommit to ensuring that children are in classrooms and playgrounds, not at work,” Russel added.

Shrinking investment in data collection is also making it harder to see and address the issue. Sustained and increased funding – both global and domestic – is needed more than ever if recent gains are to be maintained, warn the agencies. Reductions in support for education, social protection, child protection, and livelihoods can push already vulnerable families to the brink, forcing some to send their children to work.

Child labour compromises children’s education, limiting their rights and their future opportunities, and putting them at risk of physical and mental harm. It is also a consequence of poverty and lack of access to quality education, pushing families to send their children to work and perpetuating inter-generational cycles of deprivation.