An estimated 377 children were killed in 2021 by rising temperatures across Europe and Central Asia. This was the disturbing finding revealed on 24 July, by UNICEF in a new analysis of data from 23 countries.
In the report ‘Beat the heat: child health amid heatwaves in Europe and Central Asia,’ the UN Children’s Fund documents that half of these children died from heat-related illnesses in their first year of life. UNICEF’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis, cautions that “around half of children across Europe and Central Asia – or 92 million children – are already exposed to frequent heatwaves in a region where temperatures are rising at the fastest rate globally.” She warns that the increasingly high temperatures can have serious health complications for children, especially the youngest ones, even in a short space of time. “Without care,” she says, “these complications can be life-threatening.” According to UNICEF, heat exposure has acute effects on children, even before they are born, and can result in pre-term births, low birth weight, still-birth, and congenital anomalies.