Children's time use

How children spend their time has important implications for how they develop and achieve in later life. We analyse these patterns and trends to show how children and young people divide their time between important activities such as school, learning, work inside and out of the home, and play with friends and peers.

Analysis of children’s time use helps to show influences on development and skill acquisition, and demonstrates differences and inequalities between groups of children. Within Young Lives we are observing differences in how boys or girls spend their time (with boys being more likely to engage in agricultural work and girls with caring for family members), by age and between different groups in society, such as between children growing up in urban and rural environments.