Costa Rica

Region
Latin America & the Caribbean
Prevalence rank
75 of 100 measured
Children 5–17 in child labour13.4%2018 surveyUNICEF reading: 3.4% (MICS 2018, UNICEF and ILO calculations), same producer2
Government effort, worst forms of child labour3Moderate advancement
Trafficking-response tier4Tier 2
ILO conventions5C138 ratified 1976 · minimum age 15C182 ratified 2001
Out of school, primary age (a driver)64.5%2024
Modern slavery, all ages73.2 / 1,000about 16,000 people, in forced labour or forced marriage
Goods produced with child labour8
CattleCoffee

Costa Rica beside its surveyed neighbours in Latin America & the Caribbean1

All of Latin America & the Caribbean
5Trinidad and Tobago4.2% 20226Chile4.1% 20237Turks and Caicos Islands4.1% 20208Uruguay3.7% 20109Costa Rica3.4% 201810Suriname3.4% 201811Dominican Republic3.1% 201912El Salvador2.9% 202313Jamaica2.6% 2022

Sources

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  1. UNICEF / ILO via Our World in Data, Share of children aged 5-17 years engaged in labour, 2026-07-31; accessed 2026-10-15. Each country’s latest national survey. Retrieval route
  2. UNICEF, UNICEF global databases: Child labour (economic activity, children 5-17), UNICEF Data Warehouse extract 2026-07-03; accessed 2026-07-03. Same ILO/UNICEF producer: a coverage and freshness cross-check, shown beside the main series. Retrieval route
  3. US Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, 2024, published 2025-09-30; accessed 2026-07-02. Retrieval route
  4. US Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 2026, published 2026-10-08; accessed 2026-10-15. Released 8 October 2026; covers April 2025 to March 2026. Retrieval route
  5. ILO, NORMLEX ratification registers, C138 & C182; accessed 2026-07-02. Retrieval route
  6. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Out-of-school rate for children of primary school age, 2026-05-12; accessed 2026-07-03. A recognised driver of child labour. Retrieval route
  7. Walk Free, Global Slavery Index 2023 — estimated prevalence of modern slavery by country (Table 26), 2023, published 2023-05-24; accessed 2026-07-03. All ages, adults and children. Retrieval route
  8. US Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (TVPRA List), 2024, published 2024-09-05; accessed 2026-07-02. Forced-labour-only listings are shown apart. Retrieval route