To date, 160 million children are forced to work. This is almost every tenth child in the world. The United Nations website says.
According to the UN, Africa ranks first among regions in the number of children involved in child labor. There are 72 million children working on this continent. The Asia-Pacific region ranks second with 62 million children forced to work.
Africa and Asia-Pacific region together account for nearly nine out of every ten children worldwide involved in labor. The Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab states (1 million) account for the rest of child labor.
The organization notes that while the proportion of children involved in child labor is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are higher in middle-income countries. Nine percent of all children in lower-middle-income countries and 7 percent of all children in upper-middle-income countries are involved in labor.
