In both developed and developing countries, labor laws mandating a minimum age for work have enabled the child labor rate to plummet for more than a century.
In Italy, for example, roughly 64% of kids held steady jobs in 1881. By 1961, the rate had fallen to less than 4%. The same story has played out in the US, where child labor has all but been eradicated, save for trace illicit cases. As recently as 1890, however, roughly one in 10 kids worked.
Due to higher rates in developing nations, the global average hovers around 17%.