The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF have revealed that nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labour in 2024, including around 54 million in hazardous work likely to jeopardise their health, safety, or development.

The latest data showed a total reduction of over 20 million children since 2020, reversing an alarming spike between 2016 and 2020.

However, despite the positive trend, the world has missed its target of eliminating child labour by 2025.

The report, titled “Child Labour: Global estimates 2024, trends and the road forward”, released ahead of the 2025 World Day Against Child Labour and on International Day of Play, underscored a “stark reality that while gains have been made, millions of children are still being denied their right to learn, play, and simply be children”.

Gilbert F. Houngbo, the ILO’s Director-General, said the findings of the report offered hope and showed that progress was possible, adding that children belonged in school, not in labour.

He said parents themselves must be supported to have access to decent work to be able to support their children in classrooms and not sell things in markets or on family farms to help support their family.

“But we must not be blindsided by the fact that we still have a long way to go before we achieve our goal of eliminating child labour,” he said.

According to the data, agriculture remains the largest sector for child labour, accounting for 61 per cent of all cases, followed by services, representing 27 per cent, such as domestic work and selling goods in markets, and industry, including mining and manufacturing, representing 13 per cent.

Asia and the Pacific achieved the most significant reduction in prevalence since 2020, with the child labour rate dropping from six per cent to three 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 eight million to about seven million.”

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.

Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director, said the world had made significant progress in reducing the number of children forced into labour yet far too many children continued to toil in mines, factories, or fields, often doing hazardous work to survive.

“We know that progress towards ending child labour is possible by applying legal safeguards, expanded social protection, investment in free, quality education, and better access to decent work for adults.

“Global funding cuts threaten to roll back hard-earned gains.”

She said there must be a commitment to ensuring that children are in classrooms and playgrounds, not at work.

The ILO and UNICEF warned that sustained and increased funding, both global and domestic, was needed more than ever if recent gains were to be maintained.

“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. Meanwhile, shrinking investment in data collection will make it harder to see and address the issue.”

They also said child labour compromised children’s education, limiting their rights and their future opportunities, and putting them at risk of physical and mental harm, which was 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.

The report noted that boys were 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 were included, the gender gap reversed.

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 and to end it within the next five years, current rates of progress would need to be eleven times faster.

UNICEF and ILO in order to accelerate progress called on governments to invest in social protection for vulnerable households, including social safety nets such as universal child benefits, so families do not resort to child labour and strengthen child protection systems to identify, prevent, and respond to children at risk, especially those facing the worst forms of child labour.

They called on governments to provide universal access to quality education, especially in rural and crisis-affected areas, so every child could learn, and ensure decent work for adults and youth, including workers’ rights to organise and defend their interests.

Governments are being tasked to enforce laws and business accountability to end exploitation and protect children across supply chains.