Cristiane Ribeiro
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio - The IBGE Household Survey (PNAD) reports that child labor has fallen in Brazil, but still exists. In 2004, 11.8% of children between the ages of 5 and 17 were working, 75% of them on farms. More young boys (15.3%) than girls (8.1%) work.

The problem has regional differences. The rate is lowest in the Southeast (7.9%), and highest in the Northeast (14.8%) and South (14.9%). But, according to Angela Filgueiras Jorge, of the IBGE, children work in the Northeast to add to family income, and in the South it is part of the local culture for families to work together.

Translation: Allen Bennett