Girls worldwide face a disproportionately higher risk of permanently dropping out of school when climate-related disasters strike their communities, according to a new analysis by Unicef, the United Nations children’s agency. The findings, released on Thursday, reveal that extreme weather events are not simply an environmental crisis — they are an accelerating education and gender equality emergency with measurable, long-term economic consequences.
Storms, Floods and Heatwaves Disrupted the Education of 171 Million Students in 2025
Unicef’s analysis found that more than 171 million students across 106 countries and territories experienced disruptions to their education due to extreme weather in 2025 alone. Storms were the single largest cause, affecting 109 million students globally. Floods disrupted schooling for at least 70 million children, while heatwaves forced closures or online-only arrangements for approximately 50 million young people.
These figures, while significant, represent a methodological shift from the previous year’s data, in which Unicef reported that nearly 250 million children across 85 countries — roughly one in seven globally — were affected by climate hazards. The agency updated its methodology to rely on data from aid organisations and local media rather than government-reported figures, producing what analysts consider a more conservative but independently verified baseline.
The scale of disruption underscores a structural vulnerability in global education systems, particularly in regions where school infrastructure was not designed to withstand intensifying climate events.
Girls Face Compounding Pressures When Schools Close — Including Child Marriage Risk
The most alarming dimension of Unicef’s findings is the gendered impact of climate-related school closures. When schools are damaged, sanitation facilities destroyed or classes moved online, girls are disproportionately exposed to barriers that prevent their return to education.
Unicef identified three compounding pressures specific to girls: additional caregiving responsibilities within displaced or stressed households, increased burden of water collection when community infrastructure fails, and a heightened risk of child marriage — a well-documented consequence of prolonged school absence for adolescent girls in lower-income countries.
“Girls are at greater risk of dropping out when climate hazards disrupt or close schools,” the agency stated in its report. “These pressures can also increase the risk of child marriage, making it more difficult for girls to return to class when schools reopen.”
This dynamic creates a feedback loop: climate shocks remove girls from school; economic and social pressures prevent re-enrolment; and the resulting educational gap compounds gender inequality for years or decades after the original disaster.
Half of the World’s Children Live in Countries at Very High Climate Risk
The structural exposure is vast. Unicef estimates that approximately one billion children — roughly half of the world’s child population — live in countries classified as being at very high risk of climate and environmental shocks. The majority of these children are located in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where educational systems frequently lack the financial resources and physical infrastructure needed to maintain continuity of learning during climate-related emergencies.
This concentration of risk in already under-resourced systems means that climate disruptions do not simply create temporary setbacks — they widen existing gaps between the world’s most and least advantaged students. Girls in these contexts face a compounded disadvantage: they are more likely to be in educationally fragile environments and more likely to face gender-specific social pressures when those environments are destabilised.
Lost Learning Carries a Projected Economic Cost of at Least US$200 Billion
The long-term economic implications of climate-driven learning loss are substantial. Unicef estimates that the cumulative effects of disrupted education — including damage to literacy and numeracy development — could result in lifetime income losses of at least US$200 billion (approximately RM813.8 billion).
Beyond the individual income impact, the agency warns that these losses will worsen global inequalities, as the children most affected are already among the world’s most economically marginalised. The compounding of climate vulnerability, educational disruption and gender disadvantage in low-income countries creates conditions for entrenched, multigenerational poverty.
Unicef has called on governments and international partners to substantially increase investment in climate-resilient educational infrastructure — specifically, building and retrofitting school facilities capable of withstanding climate and environmental hazards. The agency frames this not merely as a development priority, but as an urgent economic and equity imperative.
For policymakers and development finance institutions, the data presents a clear cost-benefit argument: the upfront investment required to climate-proof school infrastructure is measurably lower than the projected economic losses generated by recurring educational disruptions — losses that fall most heavily on girls and on the communities least equipped to absorb them. — AFP
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