UNICEF: Climate hazards disrupted schooling for 171 million students
At least 171 million students had their schooling disrupted by climate-related hazards in 2025, UNICEF said in a report released September 10, 2026, covering 106 countries and territories.
The estimate includes students from pre-primary through upper-secondary education and represents at least one in 10 students covered by the analysis. UNICEF said the figure is conservative because it focuses mainly on disruptions that were observable and time-bound.
Storms were the largest reported source of disruption
Storms affected approximately 109 million students, the largest hazard category in the report. Floods affected at least 70 million students, while heatwaves disrupted schooling for about 50 million.
The counts are not mutually exclusive. A single climate event can close a school, damage its buildings, delay reopening and reduce attendance, so the hazard totals and disruption types can overlap.
Three-quarters of the affected students lived in low- and lower-middle-income countries. UNICEF said 66% experienced class suspensions, while 21% could not return promptly because schools had been damaged or converted into shelters.
The disruptions also included delayed reopening, shortened instructional time, remote or home-based learning, limited physical access, reduced attendance and increased risk of dropping out.
Damage to schools can disrupt community services
The effects extend beyond missed lessons. UNICEF said schools damaged by climate hazards are often also used as shelters for displaced families, meaning a damaged building can reduce both education access and the community’s ability to respond to an emergency.
UNESCO describes education in emergencies as a protective service as well as a basic right. Closures and displacement can cut children off from safe spaces and support services while creating additional barriers involving transport, documentation, language and enrollment.
Girls can face added obstacles after climate-related displacement or school closures. UNICEF identified caregiving and water-collection responsibilities, lost household income, damaged sanitation facilities and unsafe travel as factors that can make returning to school harder. In some settings, the agency also identified heightened risks of child marriage and permanent dropout.
Economic cost is a modeled projection
UNICEF estimates that climate-related school disruptions in 2025 could reduce affected students’ lifetime earnings by at least $200 billion through lost learning and widening education inequalities.
That figure is not money already lost and is not an independently audited global total. UNICEF says it applied the number of affected students to a simulation model developed with Dalberg and informed by World Bank research. The report presents the estimate in approximately $200 billion in 2025 current dollars, compared with about $154 billion in 2017 purchasing-power-parity dollars.
The projection connects school disruption to broader concerns about workforce skills, economic growth, poverty reduction and social mobility. The potential effect is especially significant in countries where education systems are already coping with poverty, conflict, displacement or limited public resources.
The total may be undercounted
UNICEF said the 171 million figure may undercount the number of affected students in crisis-affected settings by approximately 9 million. Conflict, insecurity and weak administrative systems can make it difficult to distinguish climate-related disruption from other causes of school closures or absenteeism.
Longer-term stresses such as drought and extreme heat may also be harder to capture than an event that produces an immediate closure. UNICEF said drought affected attendance, household livelihoods, food security and access to safe water, but those effects may not appear quickly in school-disruption records.
The agency is calling for climate-resilient school construction, emergency plans that keep learning going, stronger education and climate data systems, and more domestic and international financing. For governments and communities, the practical test is whether schools can remain safe and functional—or reopen quickly—when storms, floods, heat or drought disrupt daily life.
Sources
Look for updates to this story
Discover more from Interactive News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.