Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful.

Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training.

The vast majority of child labour is found in rural settings and informal urban economies; children are predominantly employed by their parents, rather than factories.Poverty and lack of schools are considered the primary cause of child labour.

Globally the incidence of child labour decreased from 25% to 10% between 1960 and 2003, according to the World Bank.Nevertheless, the total number of child labourers remains high, with UNICEF and ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in child labour in 2013.