Child labour in Bangladesh has risen sharply, with nearly 1.2 million additional children entering the workforce since 2019, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025. Official helpline data further reveals that the government-run child support service 1098 received 101 abuse-related calls between January and 10 June, while emergency helpline 999 recorded 33 complaints of workplace child abuse through May — figures that child rights advocates say represent only a fraction of actual incidents.

Scale of the Crisis

The MICS 2025 survey found that 9.2 per cent of children aged 5 to 17 years are currently engaged in child labour in Bangladesh — up from 6.8 per cent in 2019, a rise of more than a third in six years. The increase coincided with World Day Against Child Labour observed on 12 June, drawing attention to the widening gap between government commitments and ground realities. Economic hardship is widely cited as the primary driver, with poverty forcing children out of classrooms and into the workforce.

Abuse Inside Homes and Informal Sectors

A survey titled 'Situation of Child Domestic Workers in Dhaka City', conducted by Dhaka-based non-profit Action for Social Development (ASD), found that nearly 50 per cent of children engaged in domestic work in the capital face various forms of abuse, while 31.45 per cent are subjected to excessive workloads. The findings were reported by Bangladesh's leading Bengali daily, The Daily Ittefaq.

Laila Khandaker, convener of child rights organisation Shishurai Sab, said children employed in hotels, restaurants, transportation, brick kilns and informal sectors endure long working hours, physical abuse, humiliation, unhygienic conditions, low wages and, in many cases, non-payment of wages altogether. She noted that demand for child labour persists because children are perceived as easier to control and less likely to resist exploitation.

'We do not have much scope for monitoring in the institutional field. And children do most of the work in the informal sector. So they are victims of abuse in the workplace, and there is no remedy for it,' The Daily Ittefaq quoted her as saying.

Voices From the Ground

Zakia Sultana, president of the Domestic Workers National Forum Bangladesh, said she herself began working as a domestic worker at the age of eight and endured multiple forms of abuse. She said that decades later, the situation has changed little — children as young as eight from impoverished families continue to face comparable exploitation in private households.

'We know that these incidents have been in the media and have been discussed. But even though we know that domestic worker children are constantly subjected to various types of abuse, including sexual harassment, when they come to work, we cannot stop them,' Sultana said.

Structural Gaps and What Comes Next

Child rights advocates argue that the absence of effective monitoring in the informal sector — which employs the vast majority of working children — leaves victims without legal recourse. Bangladesh has made formal commitments to eliminate child labour, but the MICS 2025 data suggests those commitments have not translated into measurable progress. This comes amid broader concerns about economic instability pushing vulnerable households to rely on children's earnings to survive. Without stronger enforcement mechanisms and social safety nets, experts warn the numbers are unlikely to reverse.