Child labor in Brazil falls 21.4% in eight years
Brazil has managed to reduce the number of children and adolescents facing child labor by 21.4 percent in eight years. In 2016, there were 2.1 million kids aged 5 to 17 in this situation – a number that fell to 1.65 million in 2024.
A decline was also seen in proportion. In 2016, when Brazil had 40.6 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 17, 5.2 percent of them were engaged in child labor. In 2024, the figure stood at 4.3 percent of the 37.9 million Brazilians in this age group.
The data were released in a survey on Friday (Sep. 19) by the statistics bureau IBGE. Its time series began in 2016.
When comparing only the last two years of the survey, the number of people in child labor grew by 2.1 percent (to 1.616 million), and the percentage of this population rose by 0.1 percentage point.
However, IBGE analyst Gustavo Geaquinto Fontes takes the increase into perspective. “It was a variation of 2.1 percent. It was not a sharp variation,” he said.
Downward trend
According to Fontes, the level is still “quite low.” He pointed out that the lowest result was in 2023, a year that saw a 14.7 percent drop from 2022.
“We observe there is still a downward trend, despite this positive fluctuation of 0.1 percentage point. I think it is too early to say whether this is a reversal of the trend,” he adds.
The increase in the last year was mainly concentrated in the 16–17 age group and among males, he added. “For younger children, it remained close to stable.”
Over eight years, the percentage of kids experiencing child labor showed a downward trend until 2019. In 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey was not conducted. In 2022, the percentage showed growth.
Classification
To categorize child labor, the survey follows guidelines from the International Labor Organization, which defines it as work that “is harmful to the health and mental, physical, social, or moral development of children” and that “interferes with their schooling.” Informal activities and excessive working hours are also included.
Thus, not all work activities performed by children and adolescents are considered child labor. Brazilian law imposes the following limitations:
- up to age 13, any form of work is prohibited;
- from ages 14 to 15, work is only permitted in the form of an apprenticeship; and
- at ages 16 and 17, restrictions apply for unregistered, night-time, hazardous, and dangerous work.
Sectors
The activities found to have the highest number of child labor victims are:
- motor vehicles and motorcycle trade and repair – 30.2 percent;
- agriculture, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture – 19.2 percent;
- accommodation and food services – 11.6 percent;
- general industry – 9.3 percent;
- domestic services – 7.1 percent; and
- other activities – 22.7 percent.
Adolescents are the most severely affected
The survey classifies the results into three age groups. The study reveals that more than half (55.5%) of child labor is concentrated in the 16–17 age group. The 5–13 and 14–15 ranges each account for around 22 percent.
Race
As with other socioeconomic indicators, Brazil’s black or pardo populations face more unfavorable conditions than the white Brazilians.
While 59.7 percent of the population aged 5 to 17 is black or pardo, in the context of child labor, they add up to 66.6 percent, or two-thirds.
Whites, who make up 39.4 percent of this young population, account for 32.8 percent of children and adolescents who experience child labor.
The data show that child labor affects more men than women. They account for 51.2 percent of the population aged 5 to 17.
