Extreme Heatwaves Putting Millions Of Children's Lives At Risk, UN Warns

Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, a UN analysis has found.

- Carlos Mureithi

The UN children's agency, Unicef, examined for the first time data on changes in children's exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.

To assess the speed and scale at which days exceeding 35C were increasing, researchers made a comparison between a 1960s temperature average and one for 2020-2024.

They found 466 million children, or about one in five globally, lived in areas that experienced at least double the number of extremely hot days compared with six decades ago.

They also found children in west and central Africa had the highest exposure to extremely hot days. A total of 123 million children lived in areas that averaged of four months a year with temperatures above 35C, the analysis found. That rose to as many as 212 days in Mali, 202 days in Niger, 198 days in Senegal and 195 days in Sudan.

"This analysis issues a stark warning about the speed and scale at which extremely hot days are affecting children," said David Knaute, Unicef's climate specialist for west and central Africa. "It urgently calls on governments to seize the precious opportunity to act and get temperature rises under control."