UNICEF's New Report on Climate Crisis: 1.1 Billion Children Worldwide Face Three or More Overlapping Climate Hazards – Risk Analysis Combining Multiple Disasters and Socio-Environmental Conditions [Press Release]

Edwin, 13, stands in a classroom damaged by a tropical cyclone (Madagascar, April 11, 2025) © UNICEF/UNI779659/Ralaivita

[New York, June 16, 2026]

A new UNICEF report released today reveals that 1.1 billion children—nearly half of all children worldwide—are currently exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards, threatening their health, education, and survival. The report warns that while nearly all children globally face at least one climate hazard, more than 4 million children are at risk of exposure to as many as six overlapping climate hazards.

＊　＊　＊

The Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 analyzes, based on the latest available data, the extent to which children are exposed to the eight most frequent climate hazards: coastal flooding, drought, extreme high temperatures, wildfires, heatwaves, riverine flooding, sand and dust storms, and tropical cyclones. For the first time, it specifically identifies where and how intensely multiple climate hazards overlap and how they impact children and the essential social services they rely on. It also outlines concrete actions governments can take in response.

Children displaced from their homes due to drought (Somalia, March 2, 2026) © UNICEF/UNI971778/Yasin

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said: "Children’s lives continue to be upended by heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, and floods. Now, half of the world’s children live with at least three overlapping climate threats that affect their daily lives."

Findings show that the combination of drought, extreme high temperatures, and heatwaves is the most widespread, affecting over 296 million children living in areas where all three hazards overlap. The second most common combination—drought, extreme high temperatures, and tropical cyclones—affects more than 115 million children globally.

In Africa’s Sahel region—one of the most severely affected areas—over 4 million children face a triple threat of heatwaves, extreme heat, and sand and dust storms. Meanwhile, Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan experience more frequent and severe overlapping climate hazards than any other region in the world.

Children walking on a road flooded by cyclone-induced flooding (Bangladesh, July 10, 2025) © UNICEF/UNI830059/

High-income countries are not immune to overlapping climate shocks. Data shows that over 6 million children in Italy are exposed to prolonged heatwaves and droughts. Italy’s case highlights that while investment in climate adaptation can reduce risks for children, further action is urgently needed as the climate crisis intensifies.

The report also analyzes children’s exposure to air pollution and malaria—two risks heavily influenced by climate change. Data indicates that nearly all children worldwide are affected by air pollution, and 1 billion children are at risk of malaria. This means additional risks for children already facing multiple climate hazards.

The report introduces a framework to analyze the various risks children face. This framework is based on exposure to climate hazards and vulnerability defined by access to essential social services such as healthcare, clean water, and education. This approach allows for broad application—from analyzing risks linked to individual or multiple hazards to cross-sectoral risk assessments—revealing children’s risks across diverse contexts.

Students looking at a school bus with a damaged windshield after hurricane damage (Jamaica, November 5, 2025) © UNICEF/UNI895478/Pryce

For example, when considering multiple hazards and vulnerabilities together, children in landlocked developing countries such as the Central African Republic and Chad, or fragile states with weak institutions and infrastructure, not only face overlapping climate hazards but also lack access to basic social services, making response and recovery far more difficult. Meanwhile, the report notes that all children in the 24 small island developing states—such as Haiti in the Caribbean and Vanuatu in the South Pacific—are exposed to tropical cyclones that can instantly plunge entire islands into chaos and disrupt essential social services.

The report expresses strong concern that without urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate hazards will become more frequent and severe, placing further strain on national governments’ finances and systems, and threatening children’s well-being.

To protect children’s rights from the threats of climate change and help them adapt to an increasingly changing environment, UNICEF calls on governments, businesses, and all stakeholders to:

Take ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the best available scientific evidence and fulfill existing international commitments. This includes accelerating the phase-out of fossil fuels and ensuring a just transition to renewable energy.

Protect children through inclusive climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and responses to loss and damage that prioritize the resilience of social services. This ensures that children and essential services for children are fully integrated into national adaptation plans, sectoral strategies, disaster risk governance, and preparedness and response plans. This includes, for example, building safe and environmentally sound learning facilities and climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure, ensuring stable food security for children, making multi-hazard early warning systems effective for children and usable within the social services they depend on, improving water and sanitation services, and strengthening social protection systems to respond to climate shocks.

Enable children and young people to participate meaningfully in climate action. This requires investing in climate change education and knowledge and skills development, while enhancing the capacity of decision-makers and experts to ensure children’s rights—such as the right to be heard, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to participate in decisions affecting their lives—are fully respected.