Child labor is work that exceeds a minimum number of hours,

depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such

work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore
be eliminated.
Ages 5-11: At least one hour of economic work or 28 hours of
domestic work per week.
Ages 12-14: At least 14 hours of economic work or 28 hours of
domestic work per week.
Ages 15-17: At least 43 hours of economic or domestic work
per week.

Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child Labour
Survey, 2002-2003

Social norms and economic realities mean that child labor is

widely accepted and very common in Bangladesh.

Among children aged 5-14, about five million, are

economically active.

According to the International Labor Organization definition,

there are about 3.2 million child laborers' in Bangladesh.

Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child
Labour Survey, 2002-2003

Child labor is a visible part of everyday life in Bangladesh:

young children serve at roadside tea stalls, and weave
between cars selling goods to motorists .

On average, children work 28 hours a week and earn 222

taka (3.3 USD) a week.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed
concern in 2009 that many Bangladeshi children continue to
work in five of the worst forms of child labor, namely welding,
auto workshops, road transport, battery recharging and
tobacco factories.

Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Report on National Child
Labour Survey, 2002-2003

Bangladesh enacted the Labor Act in 2006, which includes

a chapter on child labor.
The Ministry of Labor and Employment has recently
adopted a National Child Labor Elimination Policy 2010,
which provides a framework to eradicate all forms of child
labor by 2015.

According to the new National Education Policy, education

is free and compulsory up to grade eight, however it is
estimated that more than one million children have never
been to school.
About half of all child laborers' do not attend school at all,
and among child domestic workers only 11 per cent attend
school .
As a result, working children get stuck in low paying, lowskilled jobs, thereby perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
ILO, Baseline Survey on Child Domestic Labour in Bangladesh,
2006

Bangladesh
Urban
Rural
Age
Both
Both
group Both
sexes
Male
Female sexes
Male
Female sexes
Male
Female
2002-03
NCLS
Total
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Can read
and write
a letter
(Literate)
52.1
55.9
48.1
63.3
66.9
59.5
48.6
52.5
44.5
Can
notread
and write
a letter
(illiterate)
47.9
44.1
51.9
36.7
33.1
40.5
51.4
47.5
55.5
2001 Pop.
Census
42.5
46.4
38.3
57.3
61.8
52
37.9
41.3
34.4

One-quarter of all working children reported that they had

been physically punished at their workplaces, according to a
2008 children's opinion pol.
These children participate in jobs that have been identified by
the ILO to expose children to hazards including: physical,
psychological or sexual abuse; excessive work hours; an
unhealthy environment.
3,400 children work in brick/ stone breaking for the
construction industry . Other child workers in hazardous jobs
include 123,000 children working as rickshaw pullers, 153,000
children working in restaurants or tea stalls, and 56,000
working in carpentry.
Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
ILO and BBS, Baseline Survey for Determining Hazardous Child
Labor Sectors in Bangladesh, 2005.

Working children often live away from their families in

situations where they are exposed to violence, abuse and
economic exploitation .
A rapid assessment of commercially sexually exploited
children showed that half worked in other sectors before being
lured into sex work .
The majority are depressed and three-quarters of the child sex
workers were ill in the three months before the rapid
assessment survey, many with sexually transmitted diseases.

Source: www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour
UNICEF Bangladesh and INCIDIN, Rapid Assessment: Commercial
Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in
Bangladesh, 2008

www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_labour

www.ilo.org ( International labour Organization)