Almost every child in India is exposed to at least one climate hazard. Ninety-seven percent face two or more overlapping risks. That’s the finding of a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), released June 16, 2026.
The Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026 estimates that 411.62 million children in India face at least two climate- or disaster-related hazards. These include drought, floods, storms, heatwaves, extreme heat, wildfires, and sand and dust storms.
More than 234 million children — about 55 percent of India’s child population — face at least three hazards at once, the report says. UNICEF warns this raises the risk to their health, education, nutrition and safety.
Drought is the most common hazard facing children in India. More than 410 million children — over 96 percent — live in areas exposed to agricultural or meteorological drought.
About 155.7 million children live in areas exposed to tropical storms. Nearly 89.3 million face heatwaves. Another 66.9 million live in flood-prone river zones.
These hazards rarely strike alone. UNICEF found that 158.8 million children face the combined risk of drought and extreme heat, the most common pairing in the country. Another 84.1 million face tropical storms, drought and extreme heat together.
A hazard becomes a disaster, UNICEF says, when it disrupts daily life and access to essential services such as health care, water, nutrition and education.
Air Pollution and Malaria Add to the Burden
The report also tracks air pollution and malaria, two threats that climate change worsens even though it doesn’t cause them directly.
Nearly 99 percent of Indian children, about 421 million, live with unhealthy air. India scored 9.94 out of 10 on the report’s air pollution risk scale, among the highest in the world.
Malaria affects nearly seven in ten Indian children, or about 294.1 million, the report estimates. Transmission rises and falls with temperature and rainfall.
Food security is also under threat. About 40 percent of children in India already live in severe food poverty. Droughts and floods destroy crops and disrupt supply chains, which UNICEF says will deepen existing malnutrition. Globally, the report projects climate change could push 40 million more children into stunting and 28 million into wasting by 2050.
Schools Are Already Closing
The disruption isn’t theoretical. In 2024, climate hazards interrupted schooling for at least 242 million students across 85 countries, according to a UN report cited by UNICEF. India accounted for 54.78 million of them, more than any other country, with heatwaves the leading cause.
The pattern continued this year. Odisha extended school closures in five districts until June 20, 2026, because of extreme heat. In April, temperatures across Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh climbed between 42 and 45 degrees Celsius, prompting revised school hours and early summer breaks.
Schools in parts of Jharkhand shut for several days. In Uttarakhand, officials in Dehradun closed all schools and anganwadi centers on April 27 because of the heat.
Most Families Have No Safety Net
About 48 percent of children under 15 in India have no access to social protection programs, the cash transfers and support systems that help families absorb climate shocks, the report found.
That gap matters. The World Bank has separately warned that climate-driven agricultural losses and disease could push 45 million people in India back into poverty by 2030.
“We must invest more in adapting essential services to the impact of climate change,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director, wrote in the report’s foreword. “But to do so effectively, we need data to understand where the most exposed and vulnerable children live.”
UNICEF is calling on governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and make schools, clinics and water systems resilient to climate shocks. It also wants children’s voices included directly in climate policy and finance decisions, not just adults speaking on their behalf.
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