Overview
- The National Commission for Human Rights and UNICEF released a nationally representative report on June 18–19, 2026 that estimates about 8.6 million children aged 5–17 work in Pakistan, with over 6.6 million in jobs classified as hazardous.
- The burden is concentrated in Punjab (roughly 6.0 million children), followed by Sindh (1.6 million), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (745,155), Balochistan (201,352) and Islamabad (15,180).
- Nearly 88 percent of child labour occurs in rural areas and is dominated by agriculture and informal or family-based work, which makes many cases invisible to conventional labour inspections.
- The survey links child labour to poverty and low parental education, finds boys more likely to be engaged, reports that 32–58 percent of working children suffered work-related injuries, and notes up to one-third of older child labourers showed depressive symptoms.
- Officials and development partners at UNICEF’s event pledged to use the findings for coordinated action on labour inspection, education access and social protection, but concrete funding, implementation plans and stronger enforcement remain pending.