The big picture

Eye to Eye overview of child labour

A complex and emotive subject, child labour refers to harmful forms of work which millions of children are involved in worldwide. It is estimated that approximately 218 million children work worldwide, most of them in Latin America, Africa and South East and Central Asia.

Not all children’s work is child labour. Safe, light, part-time, legal work that does not negatively affect a young person’s health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is not child labour and can generally be regarded as a positive experience.

The causes of child labour are varied, with poverty being one of the major reasons why children work. In many circumstances, a child’s income may help him or her afford an education or prevent the family from falling into extreme poverty.

It is very difficult to get accurate or up to date statistics on child labour but we can get a general picture from estimates. The map on the right shows the proportion of children estimated to be working in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It is difficult to know whether the situation is improving. A simple answer is that in some places it is and others it is not. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the number of child workers on a global scale fell by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2004. For those of younger age involved in harmful work, the percentage has fallen even more, by 26 per cent.

The overall picture emerging is that the worst forms of child labour are diminishing gradually. Less progress, however, has been made in sub-Saharan Africa, where population growth, HIV infection rates and the number of child workers, all remain at a high level.

The main international targets to improve the situation for people living in developing countries are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These are not explicitly related to child labour but if you look at the first three (eradicating poverty, gender equality and universal education) you will see how they relate very closely to some of the causes of child labour.