Child labor in the Philippines

Child labor in the Philippines is the employment of children in hazardous occupations below the age 15, or without the proper conditions and requirements below the age of 15, where children are compelled to work on a regular basis to earn a living for themselves and their families, and as a result are disadvantaged educationally and socially. So to make it short, it is called child labor when it is forced.

In 2012, the National Statistics Office said there were around 5.5 million child laborers aged 5–17 in the country, around 2.1 million of whom were exposed to environments that are considered hazardous. The International Labour Organization estimated that 55.3% of these children undertake hazardous work in agriculture.

The Philippines is committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ending child labor by 2025. Under the Philippine Development Plan, the country is committed to remove 2 million children from hazardous child work by 2022.