Rio De Janeiro: There were over 1.4 million illegal child labourers aged five to 13 in Brazil in 2006, the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE) said in a study.

The study, based on the National Household Sample Survey, showed that 237,000 child labourers were aged between five and nine (1.4 per cent of the total child population in Brazil) and 1.2 million were between 10 and 13 (8.2 per cent of the total).

Under Brazil's legislation and international laws, children aged between 14 and 15 can work only under "apprentice" status, and children aged between 16 and 17 can work in regular jobs as long as they do not work night shifts or take part in any potentially dangerous or unhealthy activity, IBGE economist Cimar Pereira said on Friday.

According to the report, there were 1.3 million child labourers aged between 14 and 15 and 2.4 million aged between 16 and 17.

Some 273,000 child labourers aged between five and 17 fell victim to accidents in 2006, the study said.

The office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Brazil said on Friday that Brazil must intensify measures to protect child labourers from exploitation.

Source : IANS