Why the World Missed Its 2025 Child Labour Target—and What’s Next
In 2015, the world leaders pledged to abolish child labour in all its forms by 2025, and that was included in Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7. As it turns out, a decade has passed, and the world is nowhere near this mark. Still in 2024, there are almost 138 million children aged 5-17 working in child labour and 54 million in hazardous child labour, as direct impairment to their health, safety or moral well-being. Though this is less than 20 million in comparison to 2020, the effort is not gaining momentum at all to be able to achieve the initial deadline.
The global child labour practice between the children was 9.6 percent in 2020 to 7.8 percent in 2024, with a change that needed to be elevated by 11 times to achieve the target of 2025. Adopting four times the current rate would allow ending child labour only in 2060. Michael Rivas, co-author of the latest ILO/UNICEF report, called the recent progress “welcome news amidst the fear of a continual increase in global child labor brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020,” but acknowledged that “world governments did not meet their goal to end child labor globally by 2025”.
Understanding the Numbers
Global and Regional Trends
The girls constitute 59 million, and the boys 78 million of the 138 million children who are under child labour. Over half of all children in the labour force are below the age of 11, and 54 million of them are in hazardous occupations that violate their health, safety, or morals. The largest absolute number of children in child labour continues to be in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 86.6 million children were subject to child labour in 2024, representing 21.5 per cent of the child population there, down slightly from almost 24 per cent in 2020, but still frightening.
The percentage of child labour has decreased in South Asia in 2020, with the number being 4.9 (21.8 million) compared with the 3.1 (14.3 million) in 20247. The percentage of hazardous work is also reduced, 2.4 (10.8 million) in 2020 and 2 (9.4 million) in 20247. The Asia-Pacific regions have experienced major decreases, and in case trends are maintained at such a rate, they might nullify child labour by 2050. Latin America and the Caribbean, nonetheless, will have to increase the rate of progress significantly to reach closeness to disappearance in 2060.
Conflict, Fragility, and Gender
In conflict-affected areas, child labour is seven times as likely to happen as in non-conflict countries, with prevalence rates of 21% and 5%, respectively. In fragile states currently not in active conflict, child labour occurs at 16%. Across the globe, boys are more likely to be engaged in child labour than girls, but the overwhelming proportion of girls in child labour engage in hidden forms of work, such as domestic work.
Why Progress Stalled
The Impact of COVID-19 and Economic Shocks
The COVID-19 pandemic set us back several years, with an additional estimated 9 million children pushed into child labour due to economic shocks, school closures, and lost household income. COVID-19 revealed and exacerbated vulnerabilities in low-income and fragile states and made it harder for families to keep their children in school rather than at work.
Socioeconomic disparities have been linked to rates of child labour. As Michael Rivas pointed out, “Historically, higher levels of socio-economic disparities correlate with an increase in child labour”. Add the pandemic’s effects on global poverty and inequality to the mix, and the challenge it presents has become even greater.
Slow Policy Implementation and Insufficient Investment
While there are legal frameworks—including the Convention on the Rights of the Child with respect to children’s rights, and the ILO conventions 138 and 182—that exist in many countries, few of them implement these in a comprehensive way. The lack of integrated policy solutions and insufficient investment in education, social protection, and family support systems has hampered progress. The European Union acknowledged that
“the pace of progress has slowed down significantly… The impact of the Covid pandemic would compromise possible improvements”.
Demographic Pressures
Workforce demands and rapid population growth in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa are straining the social protection and education systems because they cannot keep up with the needs of a growing child population. Even if prevalence rates are declining (this can be said for child labour), the actual number of children in child labour remains high because of demographic change.
The Human Cost of Missed Targets
Child labour violates two rights of children—the right to a childhood and the right to education. When child labour continues unabated, the cycle of poverty and inequality is sustained. Child labour limits economic growth by reducing the productivity and innovativeness of the labour force, as well as impacting health and well-being both in childhood and adulthood. Dr. Gyan Pathak stressed,
“The persistence of child labour also threatens progress on multiple other SDGs… Tackling child labour is not just a legal and ethical imperative—it is essential for achieving sustainable development and unlocking long-term economic prosperity”.
Dangerous work puts children in hazardous situations that have at least short-term ramifications. More than half of all child labourers are under 11 years old, with many children in work that takes them out of school, worsening conditions that perpetuate intergenerational cycles of disadvantage.
What Needs to Change
Accelerating Progress: Policy and Practice
Meeting SDG Target 8.7 by 2030 would require an acceleration of progress that is 11 times faster than in the last four years. The containment of child labour – to ultimately eradicate it – will only be possible by massively scaling up the speed, and volume, of interventions. The ILO and UNICEF reiterate the need for integrated strategies that can target root causes that lead to child labour, including poverty, access to quality education and social protection.
Income and living conditions must improve for families to keep children in school, and to support families through social protection, and to respect the rights of parents to work safely and engage in collective bargaining. Improvements in work conditions for adults can also relieve pressure on families, which may lead them to send their children to work.
Regional Solutions and Global Solidarity
Progress in Asia and the Pacific shows that elimination is possible with sustained investment and political will. If the region maintains its current pace, it could achieve total elimination by 2050. Sub-Saharan Africa, with its unique demographic challenges, will need targeted support to halve child labour by 2060.
Global solidarity is crucial. The international community should redouble investment in education, child protection, and poverty alleviation, in addition to supporting areas in violence and fragile states. Based on data collection and monitoring systems, we can better assess progress and analyse gaps.
The Role of Business and Supply Chains
Child labour persists in global supply chains, harming efforts consumer and business efforts to improve the situation for ethical and sustainable production. Businesses and consumers can motivate suppliers, both domestically and internationally, to be better in their supply chains by demanding transparency and accountability from them. Governments play an essential role in enforcing prohibitive legislation around child labour in both domestic and international supply chains.
Renewed Commitments and Next Steps
While the 2025 goal was not achieved, the global movement is back on a “path of progress” after the significant setbacks from the pandemic. The immediate challenge is to move the goalposts and make sure that no child is left behind. “Meeting SDG Target 8.7 by 2030 would require a pace of change that is 11 times faster than it has been in the last four years… Only a massive increase in the speed and scale of action will bring the elimination of child labour within reach,” said Dr. Gyan Pathak.
The new ILO/UNICEF joint report, released in June 2025, lays out a plan for action and calls for a renewed global commitment. Ending child labour is the right thing to do, the legal thing to do, and aligns with realising a sustainable development agenda and a more equitable and just world.
