This week’s Field Notes began with a number: 138 million children are still in child labor worldwide. That number has fallen significantly, but it also represents a promise the world failed to keep, the goal of ending child labor by 2025. Looking across global supply chains made one thing clear: child labor rarely begins with a child simply choosing to work. Behind it are families struggling with poverty, schools that are too expensive or difficult to reach, weak social

When we talk about ending child labor, the obvious solution seems to be simple: stop children from working. But Fairtrade's work with cocoa communities in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana suggests that the better question may be: what is preventing children from going to school instead? In 2026, Fairtrade reported that 12 cocoa cooperatives were implementing locally designed projects to prevent or address child and forced labor, reaching around 5,000 children. Many of the projec

Chocolate is one of the easiest products to enjoy without thinking about where it begins. For many cocoa-growing families in West Africa, however, its story begins on a small farm. The International Cocoa Initiative estimates that 1.56 million children are engaged in child labor in cocoa-growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, about 45% of children living in cocoa-growing households. Most work alongside parents or relatives on family farms. This matters because

Child labor can feel distant until we look at the things around us. The U.S. Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor identifies 204 goods from 82 countries and areas linked to evidence of child labor or forced labor. The list reaches across the global economy from agricultural products and textiles to mined materials and manufactured goods. What makes this database powerful is that it turns child labor from an abstract human-rights is

The world set 2025 as the deadline to end child labor. That year has passed, but nearly 138 million children worldwide are still working. For 54 million of them, the work is hazardous enough to threaten their health, safety, or development. The numbers have improved. The latest ILO–UNICEF estimates show a decline of more than 22 million children between 2020 and 2024, and more than 100 million since 2000. But where children work matters too. Most 61% work in agriculture