Rio De Janeiro, Jan 30 (IANS): The number of child labourers in Brazil has fallen from over 5 million in 2004 to 2.8 million in 2014, a 43 percent decrease, the government said late on Friday.

Their profile has also changed -- going from a majority of uneducated children and from low income families to teenagers above 14 that go to school and are from stable income families, according to Minister for Social Development Tereza Campello.

Brazil's constitution bans children under age 13 from working, and requires communities to report such situation, especially in cases of irregular domestic work, despite the difficulty that children were usually hidden from public, Xinhua quoted Campello a saying.

Given some poorer families' needs for their children to work, Campello said teenagers of age 14 and 15 could take apprenticeship programs as long as they continue school.

Those over 16 years of age could have a formal day job contract in a safe, healthy and hygienic environment.

"Today Brazil is a worldwide reference in the fight against child labour," said the minister, who believed that the improvement showed that "it is possible (to implement) actions that lead to decrease in child labour".