Child labour remains a persistent problem in today's world.
The latest global estimates indicate that 160 million children – 63 million girls and 97 million boys – were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide.
Meanwhile, 79 million children – nearly half of all those in child labour – work in hazardous conditions that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development.
Global progress against child labour has stagnated since 2016. The Covid-19 pandemic and consecutive crises threaten to further erode global progress against child labour unless urgent mitigation measures are taken.
An additional 8.9 million children were expected to become engaged in child labour by the end of 2022 due to rising poverty driven by the pandemic.
