In many countries, children are made to work in such dangerous jobs as logging, mining, and fighting in wars, as well as exploiting them as beggars, household servants, and even for sexual purposes. To help pinpoint which countries are the worst offenders in the realm of child labor, the international consulting firm Maplecroft has compiled a Child Labor Index to rank them. As you will see, the most horrific and widespread child labor practices today are seen in Africa and Southern and Western Asia.
11. Nigeria
An African country on the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria
suffers from widespread poverty leading to a large number of cases of
child labor within the country. According to data from International
Labor Organization, over 15 million children in the country below the
age of 14 are child laborers. Girls enter the labor world at an earlier
age than boys and are primarily employed as domestic helps in
households. Boys and girls are also engaged in agricultural work, street
hawking and street begging, mining and construction work, shoe shining,
car washing auto repair, conducting minibuses, and numerous other
activities. In Nigeria, child labor forms an important source of income
for the child’s family. Many children involved in labor miss classes in
schools, drop out from schools, suffer from exploitation and
malnutrition and face various forms of adverse situations.
10. Burundi
Over 68% of the population of Burundi, a landlocked nation in East Africa, are below the poverty line. This is reflected in a large number of child laborers in the country. Nearly one in five children in Burundi are engaged in some kind of labor activity such as working as domestic helps (primarily girls), working in the family owned agricultural fields as well as industrial plantations, and other types of child labor activities. Despite schooling till the age of 12 being free in the country, only about 71% of the children receive some form of formal education. Children in the country are also affected by the internal conflicts prevailing within the country where many children were forced into participating as war soldiers or detained in prison. War and disease in the country have also led to many children being orphaned and forced into labor as their only means of survival.9. Yemen
As reported in the 2014 findings of the United States Department of Labor, about 834,866 children in Yemen between the ages of 5 and 14 are engaged as child laborers, of which 70% are involved in such agriculture-related work as growing crops, raising livestock, hunting, and fishing. Services like begging, selling, domestic and restaurant work and industries like mining, construction, and automobile manufacturing, are the other areas employing child laborers. Children in Yemen are also used in armed conflicts and as armed guards, and girls are often the victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.8. Zimbabwe
7. Pakistan
As per the United States Department of Labor report, nearly 13% of Pakistani children accounting for 2,449,480 individuals between the ages of 10 to 14 are child laborers. 76% of these children work in the agricultural sector involving activities like working in crop fields, fishing and shrimp harvesting and processing. A large number of children are also engaged in restaurants, tea stalls, transportation, and garbage scavenging. The glass bangle industry, carpet weaving, coal mining, brick kilns, and the automotive industry also employ Pakistani children. According to ILO, poverty is the single major factor responsible for the high prevalence of child labor in the country. With 17.2% of the population living below poverty line, families are often forced to send their children to work to sustain the family.6. Afghanistan
Children in Afghanistan form a large part of the nation’s workforce and are often forced to work in the brick production industry and participate in armed conflict situations. Children are also employed in agriculture, mining, carpet weaving, street work, firewood gathering and other types of work. As per reports of the United States Department of Labor, only around 41.8% of Afghani children aged between 5 to 14 attend school. Commercial sexual exploitation of children, especially boys in bacha baazi, involving the use of young boys for social and sexual entertainment of men, is quite prevalent. Child trafficking of both girls and boys is also quite active in this country where children are trafficked both nationally and transnationally for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.5. Sudan
South Sudan has a huge population of child laborers working in the country, often under extremely adverse work situations. As much as 45.6% of children in South Sudan between the ages 10 to 14 are engaged as child laborers. Only 31.5% of children in the country, aged 6 to 14, actually attend school. 60.2% of the child laborers in South Sudan are engaged in the agricultural sector while 38.2% work in the services sector and small percentage in the industrial sector (which is highly underdeveloped). The prevalence of high large scale poverty and food insecurity in the country, the ravages of a constantly raging civil war, are some of the factors forcing the children to enter the labor market in South Sudan. Involvement of children in armed conflict is also not uncommon here.4. Myanmar
In Myanmar, around 1.5 million school age children between the ages of 10 to 17 are forced to work as labor. The agricultural sector in the country employs the greatest number of children while construction and small-scale industries also involve children as part of their workforce. Poverty is considered to be the prime factor leading to the involvement of children in the work-force to supplement the low household income in the country.3. DR Congo
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