242 Million Children In 85 Countries Hit By Extreme Weather Disruptions: UNICEF

Last Updated:January 24, 2025, 11:58 IST

According to UNICEF, one in seven school-going children worldwide missed school in 2021 due to extreme weather, with low-income countries hardest hit

74% of children affected by climate change in 2021 lived in middle- and low-income countries. (Representative/Shutterstock)

A recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised concerns, revealing that at least 242 million children across 85 countries experienced educational disruptions due to extreme weather events, including heatwaves, cyclones, and floods.

The UNICEF report, as cited by the Associated Press, mentioned that in 2021, one in every seven school-going children worldwide missed school at some point due to climate hazards. The report also stated that hundreds of schools in some countries were destroyed due to extreme weather, especially in low-income countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The report stated that torrential rain and flooding disrupted more than 900,000 children’s studies in Italy at the end of 2021. Thousands of children also had to miss classes after devastating floods in Spain. While southern Europe suffered deadly floods and Asia and Africa were hit by floods and cyclones, heatwaves were the “leading climate threat closing schools last year" as the Earth experienced its hottest year on record.

UNICEF said more than 118 million children’s studies were disrupted in April alone, as large parts of the Middle East and Asia, from Gaza in the west to the Philippines in the southeast, suffered a week-long scorching heatwave that saw temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

“Children are more vulnerable to the effects of climate-related crises, including stronger and more frequent heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods. Their bodies are uniquely sensitive: they heat up faster, sweat less effectively, and cool down more slowly than adults. Children cannot concentrate in classrooms that do not provide relief from scorching heat, and they cannot get to school if the path is flooded or the school is washed away," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of children affected by climate change in 2021 lived in middle- and low-income countries, according to the UNICEF report. The report highlights the devastating impact of climate extremes on the world’s poorest nations. In April, floods in Pakistan resulted in the destruction of over 400 schools. Similarly, Afghanistan experienced a heatwave in May followed by severe flooding, leading to the destruction of more than 110 schools.

Months of drought in southern Africa, exacerbated by the El Niño weather phenomenon, have placed the education and futures of millions of children at risk, and the crises show no signs of abating. Mayotte, a poor French territory in the Indian Ocean near Africa, was devastated by Cyclone Gombe in March 2022 and struck again by Tropical Storm Ana this month. The two cyclones have kept children on the islands out of school for up to six weeks.

Cyclone Gombe also destroyed more than 330 schools and three regional education departments in Mozambique on the African mainland, where access to education is already a serious problem. UNICEF stated that the world’s schools and education systems are “largely unequipped to cope with the impacts of extreme weather".

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News world 242 Million Children In 85 Countries Hit By Extreme Weather Disruptions: UNICEF