Nepal Child Labour Report 2021 reveals that 1.1 million children (15.3%) are engaged in child labour. The report on child labour is the second national and comprehensive report on child labour in Nepal that the International Labour Organization (ILO) Nepal has published in collaboration with the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). It is prepared on the basis of Nepal Labour Force Survey 2017/18. The disaggregated data on child labour and its sectoral dimensions provide great scope through various indicators for the users at the national and provincial levels. The report includes detailed statistical information on child labour and its associated characters. The results play a key role in planning, monitoring and evaluation of development programs related to the elimination of child labour carried out by three tiers of the government. The findings from the report will be instrumental in the monitoring of the fifteenth periodic plan, provincial and local level plans, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other development initiatives.
Major findings of the report are summarized below:
- Among seven million children (total children) between the ages of 5 and 17 in Nepal, 1.1 million children (15.3%) were found to be engaged in child labour which is a significant decline in child labour in comparison to 2008 (1.6 million).
- The child labour prevalence for children between age of 5 and 13 years is 18% while it is 10% for the children between age of 14 and 17.
- Female children are more likely to be engaged in child labour (17%) than that of male children (14%).
- Child labour is the highest in Karnali (24.6%) followed by Sudurpashchim (20.9%), Province 1 (17.6%), Gandaki (16.1%), Lumbini (15.8%), Province 2 (11.5%), and the lowest in Bagmati (8.9%).
- The child labour prevalence is higher in rural areas (20.4%) than that of urban areas (12.1%).
- Among the total children engaged in child labour, about 87% are engaged in the agriculture sector while 13% are in other sectors.
- The highest child labour prevalence is found among Dalit (19.4%), followed by Janajati (18.1%), Brahmin/Chhetri (14.5%), Terai caste (12.7%), Muslim and other caste categories (12.8%) and the lowest is among Newar (9.9%).
- The sectors with the highest child labour were found in ‘own-use production’ (13.2%) followed by elementary occupation (1.3%), service and sales worker (1.2%), skilled/ semi-skilled agriculture occupation (1%), crafts and trade workers (0.5%), and plant and machine operators (0.1%).
- Child labour figure amounts to 14.1% for children attending school while it is 25.1% for children not attending school.
- ChildrenworkingaschildlabourersearnedNPR3116perweekwhichisNepaliRupees (NPR) 959 more than that of the working children not in child labour (NPR 2157).
- Among occupations, children engaged in the elementary occupation earned higher average weekly wages (NPR 3379) followed by craft and trade workers (NPR 2980), plant and machine operators (NPR 2527, skilled/semi-skilled workers in agriculture (NPR 2377) and service and sales workers (NPR 2078).
- Children engaged in child labour worked an average of 15 hours per week while working children not in child labour worked for 10 hours per week. The maximum hours per week for children engaged in child labour is more than double (96 hrs) of those not involved as child labour (36 hrs).
- About 0.2 million (3.2%) children are found to engage in hazardous work which is a significant decline in comparison to 2008 (0.62 million). More males (3.7%) are engaged in such work in comparison to females (2.6%).
- The highest number of children working in the hazardous sector is from Lumbini (4%) followed by Province 1 (3.9%), Province 2 (3.4%), Gandaki (3.1%), Bagmati (3.1%), Karnali (1.9%), and Sudurpashchim (1.4%).
- There is a higher prevalence of children from urban areas (3.3%) compared to rural areas (2.9%) in the hazardous sector.
- About 62.3% of the children engaged in hazardous work come from the agriculture sector while 37.7% come from other sectors.
- About 74% of children engaged in the informal sector work in hazardous conditions.
- Childlabourprevalenceis4.4%forparentswithatleasttheintermediateleveleducation followed by secondary level (grade 9 and 10) education (10.4%) and lower secondary
level (grade 6, 7 and 8) education (12.9%). - Children of unemployed household head has the highest prevalence (21.4%) of child labour followed by the household head who works in their family business (18.7%), are employed (14.5%) and self-employed (14.2%), respectively.
- Female headed households have higher child labour prevalence (16.4%) compared to male headed households (14.7%).
- The percentage of children engaged in child labour decreases as the wealth index increases – the first, second, third, fourth and fifth quintiles of the wealth index are about 25%, 18%, 16%, 10% and 5%, respectively. This indicates the importance of increasing household income in reducing the prevalence of child labour.
- Results from the empirical analysis indicate that a number of factors influence the likelihood of children between the ages of 5 and 13, to be engaged in child labour and not attending school, such as having more number of siblings below 5, coming from subsistence households (not selling agriculture produce); and having to spend more time collecting water for household use. Children from educated households head, those receiving remittances; living in urban region; and from a higher wealth/asset index are less likely to engage in child labour and more likely to go to school.
- As for children between the ages of 14 and 17, the results from empirical analysis indicate that a number of factors influence the likelihood of them engaging in child labour and not attending school such as having more number of siblings below age 5; parents engaged in hazardous occupations; and have at least an adult employed in family. However, children from larger family size, educated parents and wealthy household from urban region are less likely to work as child labour and more likely to attend school. source: Nepal Child Labor Report