World against Child Labor Day – June 2021

In June, ILO and UNICEF will publish new global child labor estimates and trends (2016-2020), sponsored by Alliance 8.7. This report includes an assessment of how COVID-19 infection and the associated unprecedented economic crisis can affect the rate of child labor termination. This year, the "Week of Action" will begin around June 12, starting with the announcement of new global child labor estimates. This week's organized events and activities will be an opportunity for partners of the UN  to see the progress made in the process of implementing the Promise for Action 2021. Promises of all regions, countries, institutions and individual stakeholders will be posted on the International Year 2021 website. 

One in ten children in the world is engaged in child labor. The number of child laborers have declined by 94 million since 2000, but has fallen by two-thirds in recent years. Goal 8.7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls for the end of all forms of child labor by 2025. How can the international community get on track to eradicate child labor? 

children often engage in paid or unpaid jobs that do no harm to them. However, if they are too young to engage in or work in hazardous activities that may affect their physical, mental, social or educational development, they are classified as child labors. In least developed countries, more than 1 in 4 children (ages 5 to 17) are engaged in work that is considered detrimental to their health and development. Africa ranks first in the region for both the proportion of children in child labor (1 in 5) and the absolute number of children in child labor (72 million). Asia and the Pacific rank second in both indicators. In this region, 7% of all children, or 62 million in absolute numbers, are child labor. Africa, Asia and the Pacific region account for nearly 9 out of 10 child workers in the world. The remaining child laborers are distributed in the United States (11 million), Europe, Central Asia (6 million) and the United Arab Emirates (10,000). In terms of morbidity, 5% of American children, 4% in Europe and Central Asia, and 3% in Arab countries engage in child labor. Child employment rates are highest in low-income countries and in fact higher in middle-income countries. 9% of children in critically ill countries and 7% of children in severely injured countries engage in child labor. According to statistics on the absolute number of child labor in each country's income group, 84 million child workers (56% of all child labor) actually live in the middle class, with an additional 2 million live child labor. In high-income countries.