Child labor affects 3.5 million children in Mexico, with 1 million in dangerous jobs

When millions of children should be getting ready for school, millions of others are already at work. Child labor in Mexico takes many forms, but it disproportionately affects boys, children from Indigenous communities and less urbanized areas, and those who are not attending school. Many perform activities that can endanger their health and well-being, according to the snapshot offered by the 2025 National Survey of Child Labor (ENTI), presented on Wednesday.

According to the survey, which is conducted every three years, 3.5 million children and adolescents are in this situation, representing 12.6% of all Mexicans aged five to 17. Their responses highlight the economic hardships faced by many households.

The survey includes children between the ages of five and 14, who are below the legal minimum working age, as well as adolescents aged 15 to 17 who engage in hazardous activities, such as work in mining, agriculture, nightclubs, or street vending. It also covers those who perform unpaid domestic work under inappropriate conditions that may affect their well-being.

In other words, child labor in Mexico is not limited to paid employment. The definition also takes into account the level of risk involved and recognizes that a significant share occurs within the home itself, due to domestic tasks that, because of their duration or conditions, interfere with children’s development and education.

The survey further breaks down the figures, finding that 1.7 million children are engaged in excessive or otherwise unsuitable household chores, while 1.6 million carry out work not permitted for their age. Within the latter category, more than half — an alarming one million children — are doing dangerous work. Nearly a third of that number are employed in agriculture, livestock farming, forestry, hunting or fishing. Another 25.2% work in mining, construction or industrial support activities, while 16.4% are engaged in commercial occupations.

A child’s work counts as hazardous depends not only on the job itself but also on the conditions under which it is performed, said Mauricio Rodríguez, head of sociodemographic statistics at Mexico’s national statistics agency, INEGI, during the presentation of the findings, which were collected between October 2025 and early January this year.

“For example, a child might be a helper in a family-run eatery, but if they enter the kitchen and are exposed to fire, other hazards and long hours, that counts in the statistics,” he added.

The prevalence of child labor is also far from uniform across Mexico, varying significantly by region, age group and ethnicity. Boys account for six out of every 10 cases: 2.1 million, compared with 1.4 million girls.

Rates are particularly high in the country’s southeast. The state of Guerrero records the highest prevalence, reflecting the region’s longstanding poverty levels, with Chiapas and Oaxaca also ranking among the hardest-hit states. Child labor affects 25% of Indigenous children and adolescents and 15.6% of those of African descent, well above the national average in both cases.

“Among children who were not attending school, the rate reached 48.4%, compared with 9.9% among those who were enrolled. Likewise, the rate was 15.7% in less urbanized areas, compared with 8.4% in more urbanized ones,” said Arturo Blancas, vice president of INEGI, highlighting the disparities revealed by the survey. “When work interferes with school attendance, it’s not just the present that’s at stake — it can also jeopardize future opportunities,” he said.

Looking at the broader trend, the figures show little change in recent years and only a marginal decline over the past decade. The number of children engaged in child labor fell from 3.6 million in 2015 to 3.5 million in 2025. The highest level was recorded in 2022, when the survey counted 3.7 million children and adolescents, equivalent to 13.1% of the population aged five to 17.

The reasons behind child labor vary from one household to another, but they point to a persistent exposure to economic hardship. Eight in 10 households reporting child labor said they had experienced some form of adversity in the past three years, such as droughts or heavy rains that disrupted the agricultural activities on which their livelihoods depend, rising prices, or a loss of income. Rising food prices were the most frequently cited challenge, mentioned by nearly half of households.

INEGI cautions that international comparisons should be made carefully, as countries do not use the same age brackets or define prohibited work in the same way. Still, a 2021 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of which Mexico is a member, found that more than 10% of Mexican children aged 10 to 14 were engaged in work, compared with an average of about 5% across the Latin American countries analyzed.

While those figures are not directly comparable with the 2025 ENTI survey, they provide useful context for the scale of the problem in Mexico. The persistence of child labor over the past decade also reflects entrenched social inequalities that risk being passed on to the next generation.

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