One in three children, an estimated 774 million children, across the world are living with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate risk, according to a new report by Save the Children. In addition, across the globe, 183 million children face the triple threat of high climate risk, poverty and conflict.
'Generation Hope: 2.4 billion reasons to end the global climate and inequality crisis', found that while 80% of children are estimated to be affected by at least one extreme climate event a year, some are at particular risk because they also face poverty and so have less capacity to protect themselves and recover.
India has the highest total number of children both living in poverty and bearing the brunt of the climate crisis — up to 223 million children in total. It is followed by Nigeria and Ethiopia, with 58 million and 36 million children, respectively, living with this double burden.
The country with the highest percentage of children impacted by this double burden is South Sudan (87%), followed by the Central African Republic (85%) and Mozambique (80%).
A significant number of children – 121 million – experiencing the double threat of high climate risk and poverty live in higher-income countries, with 28 million of them in the world’s most affluent countries. More than two out of five of these children (12.3 million) live in the US or the UK.
The report also shows how these multiple, overlapping risks are linked to and exacerbate the current global food, nutrition and cost of living crisis that is causing 345 million people in 82 countries to face a severe lack of food.
Families across the world battle the worst global hunger crisis this century, fuelled by a deadly mix of poverty, conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, with the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine further driving up food prices and the cost of living.
One million people are facing famine across five countries, with estimates that one person is dying every four seconds of hunger.
Inger Ashing, CEO of Save the Children International, said, “Across the world, inequalities are deepening the climate emergency and its impacts, most notably for children and low-income households..."
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