Fun facts

Globally, 218 million children are child labourers
• 126 million of these children are engaged in hazardous work
• 73 million working children are less than 10 years old
• Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents
• The largest number of working children-122 million-are in the Asia-Pacific region
• The highest proportion of working children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one third of the children aged 14 and under (48 million children) are in the labour force
• 8.4 million children are trapped in slavery, trafficking, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography and other illicit activities
The number of children involved in armed conflicts has increased to about 300,000 over the past decade.

Between 40 and 50 per cent of all forced labourers are chidren
• 1.2 million of these children have been trafficked (bought and/or sold)
Where do children work?
• Nearly 70% are in agriculture (rural children, especially girls, usually start working in this industry when they are very young, often between 5 and 7 years of age)
• 22% are in services, including wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, transport, personal services, etc
• 9% are in industry, including mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction
Information gathered from http://www.freethechildren.com/getinvolved/geteducated/childlabour.htm