About 1.75 million Vietnamese children are in child labor, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of children aged 5-17 in the country, according to a new report.

Three in every five of these working children are between 15 and 17, and nearly 85 of them live in the countryside, the International Labor Organization said in its report prepared for the World Day Against Child Labour on Friday.

According to the report, a majority of children in child labor are found in agriculture and they are often unpaid family workers.

It also said that one third of the child laborers have to work an average of more than 42 hours per week.

“Our new report shows the need for a coherent policy approach that tackles child labor and the lack of decent jobs for youth,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder. “Keeping children in school and receiving a good education until at least the minimum age of employment will determine the whole life of a child.”

The ILO’s most recent estimate is that 168 million children are in child labor across the world, with 120 million aged 5-14.

Particular attention should be given to the 47.5 million young people aged 15-17 in hazardous work and the special vulnerabilities of female children and youth, it said.

“National policies should be directed towards removing young people from hazardous jobs or towards removing the hazards in the workplace,” Ryder said.

In Vietnam, the laws allow children of some certain age groups to do some types of work with certain amount of time that does not affect their health, schooling and development, the ILO said.

It noted that the Vietnamese government has made remarkable efforts in the fight against child labor, especially its worst forms, by harmonizing the national legal framework with the international labor standards and improving the basic education system.