The 2023 Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey reveals that over 1.1 million children aged 5 to 17 years were engaged in various forms of work during the fourth quarter of 2023, accounting for 10.3% of children in this age group. Approximately 893,000 of these children are involved in paid employment.
The survey showed that 56% of working children are male, with nearly 458,443 children not attending school, including 68,500 who have never attended and 389,943 who have dropped out. Urban areas account for 28% (309,199) of these working children, while rural areas have a significantly higher proportion at 72% (795,175).
Regionally, the highest percentages of child workers are in Ashanti (13.6%), Bono East (12.1%), and Northern (11.8%) regions, while Ahafo (0.8%), Greater Accra (1.6%), and Western North (1.8%) have the lowest percentages. Among the types of work, 35.4% of children worked as family helpers, 31.2% in farm work, 11.7% as unpaid trainees, and 7.3% in own-use production. Additionally, 6.2% engaged in non-farm work, 5.3% in wage work, and 2.9% in domestic, non-productive agriculture, voluntary work, or apprenticeships.
Most working children are in elementary occupations (60.4%), followed by craft and trade-related work (19.8%) and skilled agricultural, forestry, and fish-related work (17.7%). The least common jobs for children include service and sales workers (1.7%), plant and machine operators, and assemblers (0.2%), and managers (0.1%). The services sector employs 91.7% of working children, while agriculture and industry employ 4.8% and 3.6%, respectively.
Moreover, 80.4% of working children are involved in contributing family work across agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Unpaid apprenticeships constitute 11.7%, while 1.9% are self-employed, 0.5% are paid employees, and 4.9% fall under other employment categories.
