1 bln children exposed to three or more climate risks: UNICEF

NEW YORK

Palestinian children play in the village of Beitin, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on June 14, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

More than 1 billion children face at least three overlapping climate hazards, UNICEF warned on June 15, while highlighting the disproportionate impact in some regions of the world.

For the report, the U.N. agency cross-referenced data showing where the roughly 2.4 billion children on the planet live with the geographic distribution of the eight most common climate impacts. They are coastal flooding, river flooding, drought, tropical storms, heat waves, at least three days above a high temperature threshold, which varies by country, extreme heat, wildfires and sandstorms.

The report primarily focuses on the 1.1 billion children who are exposed to at least three risks, with the most common combination being drought, extreme heat (above 35 degrees Celsius) and heat waves.

That combination affects some 296 million children, including 74 million in Nigeria, 34 million in Pakistan and 32 million in India.

The number of children in this three-or-more category has increased sharply over the past 20 years.

Almost all children, some 2.3 billion, are exposed to at least one risk. Two billion are exposed to at least two, while 364 million face at least four.

Of the 123,000 children exposed to seven or more climate hazards, some 46,000 are in Myanmar.

“Children are at the forefront of the impact of climate change,” said UNICEF chief Catherine Russell.

As for the worst place for a child, “there isn’t a super short answer,” one of the report authors, Tom Slaymaker, told AFP.

“But they’re not all equal,” Slaymaker said. “We do see some hot spots, it’s really concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.”

Countries with large populations of children, including Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, are at the top of the list for the number of children exposed to at least three hazards.