Climate crisis threatens nearly every child

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• According to UNICEF, around 1.1 billion children worldwide are exposed to at least three climate risks simultaneously.
• Droughts, extreme heat, and heat waves occur together particularly frequently.
• Children suffer more from the consequences of climate change than adults because their bodies are more sensitive to heat and environmental stressors.

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According to a UNICEF report, nearly half of all children worldwide—around 1.1 billion—are exposed to at least three climate hazards simultaneously. Droughts, extreme heat exceeding 35 degrees, and heat waves are the most common combination of climate hazards.

This is according to the Children’s Climate Risks Report 2026 published by the United Nations Children’s Fund. It states that nearly every child in the world is exposed to at least one climate hazard.

According to the report, children suffer more severely from the consequences of climate change than adults. They are physically more sensitive and more susceptible to illness, as their bodies heat up faster and they sweat less efficiently. They breathe twice as fast as adults and thus inhale more pollutants. In addition, they require more food and water per kilogram of body weight, and their chances of survival during extreme weather events are lower.

The newly published report examines children’s vulnerability to eight climate hazards: droughts, extreme heat, wildfires, heat waves, coastal flooding, river flooding, sand and dust storms, and tropical storms. A climate risk atlas with high-resolution data shows where in the world these climate risks occur and with what intensity. This could help governments and other decision-makers plan better and invest more effectively in infrastructure, said UNICEF Director Catherine Russell.

In many regions, multiple climate crises overlap

According to the report, the atlas makes it clear that climate risks overlap and reinforce each other in many regions. Droughts, extreme heat, and heatwaves most frequently occur together. Nearly 300 million children live in areas at risk from these three hazards.

More than 115 million children worldwide face the second most common combination of droughts, extreme heat, and tropical storms. According to the report, one of the hardest-hit regions is the Sahel region in Africa. Here, more than four million children are simultaneously exposed to the dangers of heat waves, extreme heat, and sand and dust storms. The Asian countries of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan are also severely affected.