Average working hours of children, study and work, ages 7-14 (hours per week) - Country Ranking

Definition: Average working hours of children studying and working refer to the average weekly working hours of those children who are attending school in combination with economic activity.

Source: Understanding Children's Work project based on data from ILO, UNICEF and the World Bank.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Lao PDR 34.40 2010
2 Namibia 34.30 1999
3 Kenya 32.71 2009
4 Bangladesh 32.04 2013
5 Paraguay 29.33 2014
6 Somalia 26.10 2006
7 Pakistan 24.90 2011
8 Bolivia 23.44 2015
9 Liberia 22.40 2010
10 Timor-Leste 21.30 2007
11 El Salvador 20.01 2013
12 Senegal 19.08 2015
13 Mauritania 18.81 2011
14 Egypt 18.80 2009
14 Ethiopia 18.80 2011
16 Guatemala 18.55 2015
17 Cambodia 17.70 2012
18 Madagascar 17.60 2007
18 Burkina Faso 17.60 2010
20 Yemen 16.90 2010
21 Mali 16.30 2013
22 Venezuela 16.29 2013
23 Central African Republic 15.70 2010
24 Guinea 15.60 2012
25 Jordan 15.54 2016
26 Turkey 14.80 2006
27 Brazil 14.77 2015
28 Indonesia 14.40 2010
29 Honduras 14.30 2014
30 Tanzania 14.17 2014
31 Nicaragua 14.13 2012
32 Colombia 14.10 2015
33 Azerbaijan 14.00 2005
34 Ghana 13.70 2006
35 Mongolia 13.68 2013
36 Mexico 13.65 2013
37 Albania 13.60 2010
38 Tajikistan 13.10 2005
38 Afghanistan 13.10 2011
40 Mozambique 12.90 2008
41 Kyrgyz Republic 12.83 2014
42 Angola 12.50 2001
43 Syrian Arab Republic 12.20 2006
44 Burundi 12.10 2010
45 Rwanda 11.80 2014
46 Vietnam 11.60 2012
47 Cameroon 11.40 2011
48 Peru 10.98 2015
49 Ecuador 10.84 2015
50 Malawi 10.75 2015
51 Benin 10.60 2012
51 Uganda 10.60 2012
53 The Gambia 10.30 2015
53 Iraq 10.30 2011
55 Costa Rica 10.19 2016
56 Romania 10.10 2000
57 Côte d'Ivoire 10.00 2012
58 Uruguay 9.30 2009
59 Sudan 8.89 2014
60 Chad 8.83 2015
61 Nepal 8.82 2014
62 Panama 8.79 2014
63 Lesotho 8.50 2000
64 Sierra Leone 8.40 2013
65 Thailand 8.30 2005
66 Togo 8.12 2014
67 Chile 7.90 2012
67 Sri Lanka 7.90 2009
69 Dominican Republic 7.64 2014
70 Gabon 7.50 2012
71 Congo 7.30 2012
72 Niger 7.20 2012
73 Moldova 7.10 2009
73 Philippines 7.10 2011
75 Dem. Rep. Congo 7.10 2014
76 Nigeria 7.03 2011
77 Kazakhstan 6.70 2006
78 Trinidad and Tobago 6.50 2006
79 Haiti 5.90 2012
80 Guinea-Bissau 5.77 2014
81 Armenia 5.40 2010
82 Georgia 4.90 2006
83 Zambia 4.20 2008
83 Uzbekistan 4.20 2005
85 Eswatini 4.10 2010
86 Serbia 4.05 2014
87 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3.70 2006
88 Algeria 3.60 2013
89 Tunisia 3.50 2012
90 Ukraine 3.00 2012
91 North Macedonia 2.30 2011
91 Belarus 2.30 2012
93 Jamaica 1.90 2011

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Development Relevance: In most countries more boys are involved in employment, or the gender difference is small. However, girls are often more present in hidden or underreported forms of employment such as domestic service, and in almost all societies girls bear greater responsibility for household chores in their own homes, work that lies outside the System of National Accounts production boundary and is thus not considered in estimates of children's employment.

Limitations and Exceptions: Although efforts are made to harmonize the definition of employment and the questions on employment in survey questionnaires, significant differences remain in the survey instruments that collect data on children in employment and in the sampling design underlying the surveys. Differences exist not only across different household surveys in the same country but also across the same type of survey carried out in different countries, so estimates of working children are not fully comparable across countries. For detailed source information, see footnotes at each data point.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Data are from household surveys by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, and national statistical offices. The surveys yield data on education, employment, health, expenditure, and consumption indicators related to children's work. Since children's work is captured in the sense of "economic activity," the data refer to children in employment, a broader concept than child labor (see ILO 2009a for details on this distinction). Household survey data generally include information on work type - for example, whether a child is working for payment in cash or in kind or is involved in unpaid work, working for someone who is not a member of the household, or involved in any type of family work (on the farm or in a business).

Periodicity: Annual