Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the associations of gender, ethnicity, urban-rural residence, and poverty, on children's unpaid work. It examines whether the Nigerian experience parallels previous research in India and Latin America, which finds an ethnic gap in children's unpaid work.

Design/methodology/approach
– To achieve the stated objectives, the 2004 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey EdData Survey (2004 NDES) were analyzed.

Findings
– The series of logistic regression results confirm the existence of gender, urban-rural residence, and wealth inequalities in children's unpaid work. For example, girls, children in rural areas and poor children conduct more unpaid work than boys, urban children, and non-poor children, respectively. In addition, the series of logistic regression results indicate that an ethnic inequality persists in children's unpaid work only when religion, parental attitude on child labor and gender bias in schooling, and region of the country in which the child resides are not controlled for in the analysis.

Originality/value
– While previous research in India and Latin America finds an ethnic divide in children's unpaid work, this research contributes to knowledge by discovering that the ethnic gap in children's unpaid work that exists in Nigeria is mediated by a regional effect/variable.