There are approximately 246 million children aged 5-17 in child labor worldwide. This is nearly the size of the U.S. population of 293,027,571! Of these, about 186 million are below the age of 15. Strikingly, the majority of these children, nearly 110 million, are less than 12 years old.

One in every eight children 5 to 17 years old - 179 million - work in the worst forms of child labor.

SOME NUMBERS:

• Slavery is officially banned internationally by all countries, yet there are more slaves than ever before. Today there are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide: people paid no money, locked away and controlled by violence.
• An estimated 218 million children are used for labour, United Nations Childrens Fund UNICEF says.
• There are around 300,000 child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.

TYPES OF SLAVERY:

• BONDED LABOUR - People become bonded labourers by taking or being tricked into taking a loan for as little as the cost of medicine for a sick child. Many may never pay off the loan, which can be passed down for generations.
• FORCED LABOUR - People are illegally recruited by individuals, governments or political parties and forced to work, usually under threat of violence or other penalties.
• TRAFFICKING - The transport and/or trade of people from one area to another for the purpose of forcing them into conditions of slavery. Human trafficking ranks as the second largest criminal industry globally, second to drug smuggling, and equal with illegal weapons transactions.

SLAVERY NOW:

• The vast majority of the world's slaves are in South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• Millions of children in India are given up by their families into virtual slavery as domestic workers.
• Despite a ban on employing children under 14, India's labour ministry recently said there are 12.6 million children aged between 5 and 14 working, the largest number of child labourers in the world.

EUROPE:

• British government research shows that during 2003 there were 4,000 victims of trafficking for prostitution in Britain.
• Romania and Bulgaria are among 11 countries listed by the United Nations as top sources of human trafficking, based on reported numbers of victims.

AFRICA:

• An estimated 200,000-800,000 people are trafficked each year in the sub-region.
• In Mauritania slavery was nominally abolished at independence in 1960 and legally banned again in 1981. Yet rights groups say it persists in the interior of the nation of 3 million inhabitants, many of them nomads.
• Anti-Slavery International has estimated at least 43,000 people live as slaves across Niger.

Sources: Reuters/Anti-Slavery International/
UNICEF/http;//freetheslaves.net

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Key Statistics

• The global number of child labourers in the age group 5-17 decreased from 246 million in 2000 to 218 million in 2004, a decrease of 11 per cent. The percentage of child  labourers in this age group went down from 16 per cent (1 in 6) in 2000 to 14 per cent (1 in 7 ) in 2004.
  
  
• The number of children aged 5-17 engaged in hazardous work has declined by 26 per cent, from 171 million in 2000 to 126 million in 2004. With 33 per cent, the decline in the age group 5-14 has even been sharper.
  
  
• Around 5 million children have benefited directly or indirectly from IPEC's work.
  
  
• Latin America and the Caribbean stand out in terms of a rapid decline of child labour. The number of children at work in the region has fallen by two-thirds over the last four years, with just 5 per cent of children ages 5-14 now engaged in work.
  
  
• With 26 per cent, or close to 50 million child workers, the proportion of children engaged in economic activities in sub-Saharan Africa is currently the highest of any region in the world.
  
  
• In the Asian-Pacific region, 122 million children ages 5-14 are engaged in work, 5 million fewer than four years ago. Less than 20 per cent of Asian children in that age group are now at work.
  
  
• In industrialized countries, about 2.5 million children under the age of 15 were at work in 2000.
  
  
• Almost 7 out of 10 working children are in the agricultural sector; whereas 22 per cent work in services and 9 per cent in industry, including mining, construction and manufacturing.
  
  
• The estimated cost of the elimination of child labour is US$760 billion over a 20-year period. The estimated benefit in terms of better education and health is over US$4 trillion. The economic benefits would therefore outweigh the costs by nearly 6 to 1, not to mention the unquantifiable social benefits to be gained.

The Fight Against Child Labour: A Timeline

Eliminating child labour is an essential element in the ILO's goal of "Decent Work for All". The ILO tackles child labour not as an isolated issue but as an integral part of national efforts for economic and social development.

1919 The first International Labour Conference adopts the first international Convention against child labour, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (No. 5).

1930 Adoption of the first Forced Labour Convention (No. 29).

1973 Adoption of the Minimum Age Convention (No. 138).

1992 The ILO establishes the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).

1996 Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action: The elaboration of the principle that a crime against a child in one place is a crime anywhere. The ILO codifies this into an international standard by developing a convention three years later which spells out the role of enforcement and penalties.

1998 Origin of Global March Against Child Labour

1998 Adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: Freedom of  association, abolition of forced labour, end of discrimination in the workplace and elimination of child labour. All ILO member States pledge to uphold and promote these principles.

1999 Adoption of the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182). Focused world attention on the need to take immediate action to eradicate those forms of child labour that are hazardous and damaging to children's physical, mental or moral wellbeing. Convention 182 has been ratified by 9 out of 10 ILO member States while Convention 138 has been ratified by 4 out of 5 ILO Member States.

2001 The first Time Bound Programmes on the implementation of Convention 182 and 138 are launched by three countries. Over 20 countries are currently implementing time bound programmes with ILO support.

2002 The ILO publishes its first Global Report on Child Labour and establishes 12 June as World Day Against Child Labour. The Organization supports more than 80 countries in formulating their own programmes to combat child labour.

2004 First ILO global study on the costs and benefits of eliminating child labour says that economic benefits would outweigh costs by nearly 6 to 1.

2006 The ILO's second Global Report on Child Labour on child labour says that child labour is declining worldwide.

For more information on the ILO’s International Programme to Eliminate Child Labour (IPEC), please visit www.ilo.org/ipec or for information on child labour visit www.ilo.org/declaration