UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 Highlights Threats to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Systems

New York, September 7, 2026 — The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has released the “Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026,” offering the most detailed global picture to date of where children face the greatest climate risks, including threats to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems that millions depend on for survival.

Background

Climate hazards have always occurred naturally, but human-induced global warming is intensifying their frequency and severity, reshaping the risks children face worldwide. The report, launched by UNICEF, found that nearly half of the world’s children — around 1.1 billion — are now exposed to at least three overlapping climate hazards, threatening their health, education and survival, while almost every child in the world faces at least one climate hazard. Drought, extreme heat and heatwaves emerged as the most prevalent trio of hazards endangering millions of children globally.

The 2026 report builds on UNICEF’s earlier 2021 Children’s Climate Risk Index, using updated data and improved models to provide a more detailed picture of where specific climate hazards are occurring, how intensely they affect children, and where essential systems are least able to withstand these shocks. While the original index ranked countries by overall climate risk, this new report offers granular detail on specific threats and system vulnerabilities.

Key Findings

The report shows how children’s exposure to multiple, overlapping climate hazards — combined with their inherent physical vulnerabilities and gaps in the social services they rely on, including WASH — undermines their rights and increases their risk of harm. Nearly one in seven children, around 337 million, live in areas affected by riverine flooding, while 33 million are exposed to coastal floods. Drought is even more widespread, with more than three-quarters of all children globally — roughly 1.8 billion — exposed to agricultural or meteorological droughts, threatening food security, nutrition and livelihoods. At the same time, 662 million children live in areas exposed to tropical storms, where intense rainfall poses further risks.

The report draws on new data from UNICEF’s Global Child Hazard Database, which enables analysis at a geographic scale relevant for policy and action. Rather than simply counting children by country, the analysis maps where children live on a fine geographic grid, allowing estimates of how many face several climate hazards in the same location.

A New Framework for Understanding Risk

The report introduces a new Children’s Climate Risk Framework, pairing hazard exposure with children’s vulnerability — including their access to health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, education, protection and social protection. The report also provides concrete policy recommendations across different sectors, aiming to help governments identify where children are most at risk and where investment in resilient services is most urgently needed.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the lives of children continue to be upended by the impact of heatwaves, wildfires, droughts and floods, underscoring the report’s core message that climate change is already reshaping childhood for hundreds of millions of children worldwide.

Complementing the Global WASH Sector Resilience Index

The report’s findings complement UNICEF’s recently launched Global WASH Sector Resilience Index (GWSRI), which assesses whether WASH systems worldwide are prepared to respond to shocks and stresses. Together, the two tools provide critical evidence to drive risk-informed investments, strengthen resilience, and safeguard children’s futures — connecting granular hazard exposure data with system-level readiness assessments.

Conclusion

The Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 offers governments and development partners an unprecedented level of detail on where children are most exposed to climate threats and where the social services meant to protect them — including WASH systems — are falling short. As climate impacts continue to intensify, the report’s pairing with tools like the GWSRI signals a shift toward more targeted, evidence-based investment in resilient services, offering a clearer roadmap for protecting the world’s most vulnerable children from compounding climate risks.

Download the full “Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026” and executive summary here.

Categories: Global Health, Water & Sanitation, Development News