Every child counts: new global estimates on child labour

Book excerpt: [Introduction] This document presents the results of ILO research on the global magnitude of child labour. It introduces new global estimates for economic activity by children and child labour in the sense of ILO Conventions Nos 138 and 182. There are no national data to be found in this document. The lowest aggregate level presented are the major world regions. All estimates are for the benchmark year 2000. Child labour is a sensitive subject and numbers on its magnitude play an important role in global policy-making and advocacy efforts. The research was conducted in acute awareness of this responsability and used well-proven statistical methodologies in an attempt to keep error margins to a minimum. All sources, underlying definitions and methodological steps are explained in detail. The document is devided into three main sections. Section 1 presents the main findings. Sections 2 and 3 introduce definitions and methodologies. Data are presented in tables and charts