Child Labor in Global Context

Worldwide, 160 million children are engaged in child labour i.e. 9.6% of total children population; 79 million of them are performing hazardous work.  i.e. 4.7% and 89.3 million of them are 5-11 years old, 35.6 million are between 12-18 and 35 million are between 15-17 years. Out of 160 million, 63 million are girls and 97 million are boys. Sub Saharan Africa accounts the highest prevalence of child labour i.e 23.9% (86.6 million) and Eastern and South Eastern Asia accounts 6.2% i.e 24.3 million child labour. 70% of total child labour is in agriculture sector i.e. 112 million children aged 5-17 years. Covering seven countries, South Asia has more than 16.7 million children eking out a living. On the subcontinent of 1.82 billion people, the agriculture sector hosts the largest number of child laborers, reveals the survey done by ILO 2020.The global trend also recognizes the continues progress against child labor in Asia, and the pacific, Latin America and Caribbean and significant reduction in number of child laborers over the last four years.

Child labor in Nepal

Based on the Nepal Child Labor Report 2021 jointly published by Central Bureau of Statistics and International Labor Organization, it states that in Nepal out of seven million children of the age group 5-17 years, 1.1 million children are still involved in child labor which constitutes of 15.3 percent of total children. This is the decline in the ratio of children engaged in labor in comparison to 2012 when the child labor rate in Nepal was 1.6 million. The report also states that the child labor is more prevalent in rural areas (20.4%) as compared to urban areas (12.1%). According to the statistics, girls (17%) are more likely to be engaged in child labor than boys (14%). As per the age group, the child labor rate for children between age of 5-13 years is 18% while it is 10% for the children between age of 14-17. The report found that among the total children engaged in child labour, about 87% are engaged in the agriculture sector while 13% are in other sectors. The highest child labour prevalence is found among Dalit (19.4%), followed by Janajati (18.1%), Brahmin/Chhetri (14.5%), Terai caste (12.7%), Muslim and other caste categories (12.8%) and the lowest is among Newar (9.9%).

Since the issue of child labor is the global concern in recent years, Swatantrata Abhiyan Nepal if organizing a global panel discussion on action against child labor on 18th February 2024, utilizing the impact of global forum i.e. World Social Forum 2024.