Climate Change Is Increasing Heat Stress for 560 Million Children Every Year

Children today are exposed to significantly more days of heat stress each year than previous generations, and this burden is expected to continue growing, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel found that younger generations face disproportionate health risks, including direct physiological stress as well as indirect threats such as food and water shortages.

The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, show that up to 560 million children aged 0 to 9 experience at least one additional month of heat stress every year as a result of human-induced climate change.

“Climate change is already causing hundreds of millions of children around the world to experience dangerous heat, creating serious risks to their health,” said Rosa Pietroiusti, the study’s lead author.

“At the same time, poverty, poor housing conditions, limited access to cooling and overstretched health care systems leave many children with virtually no means of protecting themselves from extreme heat,” Euronews reports.

The researchers note that vulnerability to heat stress varies with age. Older adults, newborns and young children are among those particularly susceptible to its effects.

“Children are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change and will experience increasingly severe impacts throughout their lifetimes,” the authors wrote.

The study found that children face greater exposure to heat than any other age group. Their number is nearly three times higher than the 190 million people aged 60 to 69 who are exposed to this additional health threat.

Extreme heat can be dangerous for the human body because it interferes with its ability to regulate temperature, worsens existing health conditions and increases the risk of heatstroke, kidney failure and lung damage.

Children are particularly vulnerable because their bodies are still developing and are less efficient at regulating temperature. They produce less sweat per kilogram of body weight and have higher metabolic rates, meaning they can overheat more quickly during extreme heat.

According to the researchers, numerous factors can intensify children’s exposure to dangerous heat.

The largest increases in humid heat associated with climate change are occurring in tropical regions and poorer countries with relatively young populations, particularly in South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa. These regions are currently home to the largest numbers of children exposed to dangerous heat stress.

Scientists note that children in the most affected regions are generally in more vulnerable socioeconomic circumstances. They can suffer from heat both directly, through physiological stress, and indirectly, through the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, disruptions to infant feeding practices and complications during childbirth.

According to temperature projections, children will remain disproportionately exposed to heat stress even as the global population continues to age.

Under a scenario in which global average temperatures rise by 1.5°C, around 620 million children aged 0 to 9 are projected to experience at least one additional month of heat stress every year, while approximately 390 million could face at least five months of heat stress annually.

If global temperatures rise by 2.0°C, estimates suggest that around 650 million children would experience at least one additional month of heat stress each year, while approximately 420 million could face at least five months of heat stress annually.

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