Child labour on the rise in Bangladesh

Staff Reporter :
The number of children working in different sectors has reached over 1.78 million in 2022 which was 1.7 million in 2013, reflecting an increase of 77,203 children in the last ten years, according to a recent child labour survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

While there has been a decline of over two lakh children, aged 5 to 17 years, working in hazardous sectors, the number of children working in non-hazardous sectors has surged by nearly 300,000 as per the report published on Wednesday.

The BBS report reveals that the percentage of working children has risen to 8.90 per cent in 2022, in comparison with 8.70 per cent recorded in the 2013 survey.

Additionally, the proportion of child labour has also increased from 4.30 per cent in 2013 to 4.40 per cent in 2022.

According to BBS, the number of children aged 5 to 17 years in the country is nearly 40 million in 2022 while in 2013, the number was 39.6 million.

However, regarding the same issue, a report was published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF in June 2021, showed the number of children in child labor has risen to 160 million worldwide referring to an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years – with millions more at risk due to the impacts of Covid-19.

However, poverty is the main factor, which pushes children to work. The unemployment or low level of income of parents increase the likelihood of children being sent to work as children “have to” contribute to the family income. According to UNICEF 46% of working children in Bangladesh live below the poverty line with one quarter living in an extreme poverty.

Living in poor and extremely poor households, these children are deprived of the basic needs – food, shelter, medical care, sanitation facilities, and drinking water.