World misses target to end child labour by 2025, 138 million children still trapped

The international community has failed to eliminate child labour by the 2025 target set under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7, with nearly 138 million children still engaged in labour worldwide as of 2024, with 54 million of them in hazardous conditions that threaten their health, safety, and development.

The grim statistics were released today in a joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF, ahead of World Day Against Child Labour, commemorated annually on June 12.

The 2025 theme, “Progress is clear, but there’s more to do: let’s speed up efforts,” underscores the urgency of accelerating action to meet global commitments. Although the figures fall far short of the 2025 goal, the report notes a notable reduction of 22 million children in child labour since 2020.

This reverses the spike recorded between 2016 and 2020 and signals that progress, while slow, is possible.

“Children belong in school, not in work,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director-General.

“Parents must be supported with access to decent work so they don’t have to choose between survival and their children’s education. But we must not be blindsided—we still have a long way to go.”

The data shows that agriculture remains the most affected sector, accounting for 61% of child labour cases, followed by services (27 per cent) and industry (13 per cent), including mining and manufacturing.

Child labour is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the global total, about 87 million children. Despite a slight decline in prevalence (from 23.9 per cent to 21.5 per cent), population growth has kept the absolute numbers steady.

Regions such as Asia and the Pacific saw major progress, cutting child labour prevalence from 5.6 per cent to 3.1 per cent, while Latin America and the Caribbean saw an 11 per cent reduction in total cases. However, agencies warn that progress is far too slow, and reaching the goal within five years would require accelerating the current pace 11-fold.

“Far too many children still toil in mines, factories, and fields, often doing dangerous work just to survive,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF.

“Progress is possible, but global funding cuts are threatening to reverse hard-earned gains.”

FILE: Men carry bags of food while women wait for their rations at a food distribution site in Pibor, South Sudan — Activists say decent work for adults would eliminate child labour

Russell called for increased investments in education, social protection, and decent work for adults. She noted that underfunding in these areas often forces vulnerable families to rely on child labour to make ends meet.

The report also highlights the gender dynamics of child labour. While boys are more likely to be involved in child labour across all age groups, the pattern reverses when unpaid household chores exceeding 21 hours per week are factored in, with girls disproportionately affected.

Since 2000, the number of children in labour has dropped significantly from 246 million to 138 million but experts caution that the political will and accountability needed to end child labour by 2025 have been lacking.

“This is not just a failure of resources,” said one child rights advocate. “It’s a failure of justice.” The report concludes that without sustained and increased domestic and global investment, the modest progress made in recent years could be undone, pushing millions more children into exploitative work and further entrenching cycles of poverty.