Far from the city: child labour in Nepal

Many children in developing countries have to work, but child labour has long-term effects on the ability of developing countries to reduce poverty. How many children there are in each family, and how close they live to cities, can shape the type of work they do and the education they receive.

A paper from the Universities of Oxford and Southampton, UK examines the factors behind child labour in Nepal, in particular the effect of how close children liveto urban areas. Nepal is mainly rural, with 86 percent of its 21 millionpeople living in villages or small towns who have to travel long distances toreach its cities.

Children between the ages of five and fifteen takepart in three main areas of work: work for paid salaries; subsistence work,such as helping out on family farms; and household tasks. More than threequarters work in agriculture, where they face long hours in harsh weather usingharmful pesticides and fertilisers. Another eight percent work in domesticservices, where there is a high risk of abuse. Children may also help with thefamily business or help around the house, allowing adults to take on more paidwork.

Which types of work children do, and for how long, isaffected by the demand and supply of labour, the importance of local agriculture,the education levels of parents, and local wages. Each of these factors canchange in relation to how closely a community lives to a major urban area. In Nepal, households living up to three hours of travel timefrom cities are more likely to take part in non-farm work than in agriculture.They are also more likely to work for a wage and to rely on the market forgoods and services that are normally self-provided in rural areas, such as foodand water.

This means:

• Children livingin or around cities work much less than rural children.
• Children livingin or around cities work mostly for wages and in small businesses.
• Work on thefamily farm and in household tasks is less for those living within a three-hourtravel to urban centres.
• School attendanceincreases dramatically the closer children live to cities.
• Children workingas servants are the most likely to be in paid work and least likely to attendschool, or to assist the household in subsistence activities.

In terms of child labour and education, the welfare ofchildren improves the closer they live to a city centre. But only some of thesebenefits are due to distance. In households with many children, older siblingsoften have to work to help their parents. This is worse for rural children who onaverage have more brothers and sisters. Many parents try to put their children througheducation, but poor parents often choose to make some children work in order tosend others to school.

Taking all these factors into account, decision-makersmust:

• Increase adultwages in areas where child labour is high, as parents with higher salaries areless likely to put children into paid or farm work.
• Look at childlabour together with, rather than separately from, the capacity of parents tosupport themselves and their children.
• Give specialattention to the small percentage of children classified as servants, who workmuch longer hours than most and are at the highest risk.