Child labor manifests when children are employed to do certain work that get in the way of their childhood and their right to attend school. Many international organizations look at this phenomenon as something exploitative especially in rural and informal urban communities where children are forced to work in mining, agriculture and many other assembly operations either because of too much poverty or lack of public schools. The rise in the number of children suffering from child labor these days is alarming especially in developing countries where poverty and poor opportunities for schooling are prevalent. As of today, African nations have the most number of child labor incidents, with more than half of its children within the 5-14 age bracket working up a sweat just to earn a living. Here is a list of the ten countries with the highest child labor incidence rates in the world:

10. Ethiopia

Almost 60 percent of the children living in Ethiopia are forced by their parents to work to complement the income of their families. These children are deployed to farms, although the most common practice is sending them to mining areas to prospect for gold. Each child earns just one dollar every month, which is just enough to feed an entire family for a day or two. Several local awareness campaigns have been implemented in Ethiopia to inform its people about the policies of the Ethiopian government against child labor and neglect. Since the 20th century, several organizations have reached out to rural communities in this country to offer educational opportunities to children who have no access to formal schooling.

9. Pakistan

Around 11 million Pakistani children work to earn a living by the age of 7. International organizations attribute the prevalence of child labor in Pakistan to poverty, which is said to be the single greatest cause of child labor in most countries around the world. More than 90 percent of children working in Pakistan are deployed in the wholesale and retail industry and the rest are in the service industry and manufacturing. Child labor is most common in a small community in the north eastern part of Pakistan called Sialkot near the border of Kashmir, where children are exploited to toil in factories engaged in the production of export goods.

8. Burundi

Children in Burundi work in the areas of agriculture, fishing and herding. Most of the Burundian children who are subjected to child labor come from the rural areas since they are the ones who generally have lesser opportunities to attend school. Children in urban areas who suffer from child labor are generally street children who get involved in hawking goods or in carrying heavy loads in ports. Some of them also work as domestic servants in affluent families and unfortunately become victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Child trafficking is also common in Burundi. Some locals sell children for the purpose of domestic service or soldiering. Most of these children start working even before they reach the age of 12.

7. Afghanistan

Poverty and lack of quality education are the major causes of child labor in Afghanistan. More than 30 percent of Afghan children are forced to work in illegal remote mines at a very young age to search for gold, which is the major source of income for poor families in the country. Some of those who are not deployed in mines are sent to factories or construction sites to do heavy work. They go to work in food processing, textile and cement industries, while some labor in poppy fields. There is also a rise in the number of underage girls exploited in this country, as they are sold for a price so their parents can pay for their debts.

6. Zimbabwe

Around three million children in Zimbabwe are out of school. A recent study showed that a big percentage of children who do not have any formal schooling participate in prostitution, mining, agriculture and other illicit activities in the country. Just like in many other countries, the underlying cause of child labor in Afghanistan is poverty, followed by the breakdown of family units due to sexually-transmitted diseases, and the lack or inadequacy of a good social services delivery system for its locals. Because of these factors, many children grow up being poor orphans who have no other choice but to subject themselves to exploitation and abuse just to earn a living and be able to sustain their everyday needs.

5. Democratic Republic of Congo

More than 14% of the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo depend on artisanal mining to earn a living. A huge part of this population is composed of children who use their hands, hammers, picks and other materials to pick through rocks on riverbeds or leftovers from mines to search of gold. Around a million children from the Republic of Congo work underground or in pit mines to earn a little and supplement the money earned by their parents. Child miners face health risks everyday as they handle minerals, dig tunnels and dive into wells.  Some of them even get killed due to cave-ins and explosions, and sometimes drowning.

4. Sudan

Slavery is a common practice in Sudan that has been since the ancient times. Most of Sudan children especially in the south are captured and taken away from their families during military raids so they can be sold to well-heeled families and serve as unpaid household servants. Some Arab militias and soldiers raid houses in small villages and take children with them as they return to their homes where they have them do unpaid labor within their homes. Most of these children work in herding animals for fear of beatings from their masters. There are also instances of sexual abuse among these children. The government of Sudan recently took steps to help the poor children be reunited with their parents in the camps by piloting projects that seek to alleviate poverty and abuse.

3. Somalia

According to statistics, more than half of the population of children in Somalia work starting the age of 7 so they can provide for themselves and their families. These children engage in one of the worst forms of child labor in the whole world. Most of the schools in Somalia have been transformed to recruitment centres, and nearly all children living in the poverty line are forced to be trained by the Somali army so they can soon join the military. By 15, most of the poor children of Somalia are already armed and trained to be involved in violent conflicts, act as bodyguards to the high-ranking officers of the military or work in agricultural fields and quarries.

2. North Korea

At age 14, the children of South Korea go to the military and are forced to stay in hard labor camps for up to 6 months and work 15 hours a day. Barely fed, these children are deployed to engage in hard labor activities such as mining, logging and agricultural work. Girls of the same age also get sexually abused by the guards of labor camps while they labor. In this country, children are placed in labor camps to punish them for the political offenses that they have committed. That is why it is called “re-education through labor.” If they are not placed in labor camps, children are deployed in factories to labor in the area of manufacturing.

1. Myanmar

In Myanmar, minors are forced to work as cheap labor. Most of the children in this country, especially the orphans, are separated from their parents by force to abandon schooling and start working either in farmlands or construction sites for less than a dollar earning a day. Several fishing boat owners in Myanmar also employ children not just because they are easier to control but because they can be paid with very cheap wages.