New York, United States. Nearly all of the world’s children are exposed to at least one climate hazard, according to a UNICEF report released on Tuesday, which said up to 1.8 billion are at risk from droughts and 1.2 billion from extreme heat. The agency said children are disproportionately affected by intensifying climate-related risks and called for urgent government investment in infrastructure, adaptation and disaster management.
Report findings
The Children’s Climate Risk Report examined a range of climate hazards alongside the effects of air pollution and the risks of vector-borne diseases such as malaria. It also included data on access to water, healthcare and social services worldwide.
The report said as many as 1.1 billion children globally were exposed to at least three overlapping climate risks, warning of a dangerous cascade of multiple hazards that could overwhelm governments and social services.
Multiple and overlapping risks
“It’s not just the exposure to the single hazards like floods or droughts or heat waves and extreme heat that children face, but it is the exposure to multiple hazards,” said Rohini Sampoornam Swaminathan, UNICEF statistics manager and one of the report’s authors.
UNICEF said 662 million children were at risk from tropical storms, 337 million from riverine floods and 33 million from coastal floods. It added that one billion children were exposed to malaria, mostly in Africa.
Impact on education and vulnerable countries
In 2024, 242 million children across 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by climate hazards, the report said.
UNICEF identified Somalia, Madagascar, Myanmar, Cambodia and Pakistan as the most vulnerable countries. It said the highest numbers of drought-exposed children live in agriculture-dependent economies including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tanzania.
Landlocked countries and water stress
The report found that children in landlocked nations face disproportionate risks of drought, desertification, heat stress and flash floods. It said water stress is set to intensify in countries such as Botswana and Burkina Faso.