Disasters displaced some 43m children

Weather-related disasters forcibly displaced a staggering 43.1 million children across 44 countries over the past six years, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.

That figure translates into an alarming average of 20,000 children uprooted every day.

The findings are contained in UNICEF’s latest report, Children Displaced in a Changing Climate, the first ever global analysis of child displacements caused by floods, storms, droughts and wildfires. It also projects future trends for the next three decades.

Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, stressed the scale of the crisis.

“It is terrifying for any child when a ferocious wildfire, storm or flood barrels into their community,” she said.

“For those who are forced to flee, the fear and impact can be especially devastating, with worry of whether they will return home, resume school, or be forced to move again … As the impacts of climate change escalate, so too will climate-driven movement,” she added.

The head of UNICEF called for urgent action to prepare communities, protect children at risk of displacement, and support those already uprooted.

China and the Philippines topped the list in terms of the absolute number of child displacements, largely due to their exposure to extreme weather events, substantial child populations and improved early warning and evacuation capabilities, according to UNICEF.

However, when considering the proportion of displaced children relative to the child population, small island states such as Dominica and Vanuatu were the most severely affected by storms, while Somalia and South Sudan bore the brunt of flooding-related displacements.

Haiti, which is already at high risk of disaster-related child displacement, also faces violence and poverty, with limited investments in risk mitigation and preparedness, and in Mozambique, the poorest communities, including those in urban areas, bear the disproportionate brunt of extreme weather events.

Of the recorded child displacements between 2016 and 2021, floods and storms accounted for a staggering 40.9 million, or 95 percent. This was due in part to better reporting and preemptive evacuation efforts. Droughts triggered more than 1.3