The Ledger · Entry 34
Is child labor falling?
Yes. Share of the world's children engaged in child labor was 27.6% in 1950. By 2012 it was 10.6%. Data retrieved 2026-08-22.
Child labor fell by more than half between 1950 and 2012
Data: Our World in Data, based on the International Labour Organization
For most of the twentieth century, a large share of the world's children worked instead of attending school, often in agriculture or family workshops, because their labor was needed and schooling was out of reach. The ILO's earliest worldwide estimates, built for children aged 10 to 14, put more than a quarter of them at work in 1950.
The key rows
In 2000 the ILO widened its measure to children aged 5 to 17, the definition still used today, and the share kept falling through the last year in this series, 2012. The count is not zero: later ILO reporting describes a continuing but slower decline, though that later work is not part of this same long-run series.
Asked often
Is child labor still declining?
The last year in this long-run series, 2012, saw 10.6% of the world's children in child labor, continuing a fall from 27.6% in 1950. Later ILO reports describe continued declines, though this dataset itself runs only to 2012.
How is child labor measured?
The ILO's early estimates, used from 1950 to 1995, counted working children aged 10 to 14. From 2000 the ILO switched to a wider definition covering ages 5 to 17, which is now the global standard used in its reporting.
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