Behind this global figure lie school closures, classrooms turned into shelters, delayed starts to the school year, and a widening gap in opportunities among children and across countries. In its latest report on the topic, UNICEF sketches a new reality: the climate crisis, with its frequent natural disasters, has become an education crisis.
UNICEF measures a learning crisis that goes beyond school closures
At least 171 million students—from pre-primary through upper secondary—were affected by disruptions to education caused by natural disasters in 2025, UNICEF reports in a study published on September 10, 2026. Storms, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires disrupted schools in 106 countries and territories. The tally, however, is described as conservative by the authors: the study captures sudden shocks—such as a flood or a cyclone—much more readily than slow, enduring pressures like prolonged drought. It also excludes secondary effects of certain climate risks, including vector-borne diseases or air pollution.
The first takeaway is that school disruption goes beyond a closed door. Among affected students, 66% experienced actual suspensions of classes. But for 21% of them, the return to in-person instruction was also delayed because their school had been damaged or turned into shelter for displaced populations. Others moved to remote learning, faced shortened schedules, encountered physical barriers to reaching school, or saw their risk of dropping out increase. UNICEF’s report also notes that at least 11 countries experienced school disruptions across their entire territory, interrupting learning for 44 million students. Additionally, 40 countries endured multiple episodes within the same year. In other words, this is no longer merely a matter of rebuilding after a single disaster: some education systems must absorb successive shocks before normal functioning can be restored.
The drought illustrates a particular blind spot in conventional statistics. It does not shut schools as abruptly as a cyclone or flood, yet it reduces household income, undermines food security, and complicates access to water. In 2025, about 2 million students attended school less frequently or faced an increased risk of dropping out because of drought. Climate disruption can therefore begin long before an official school closure occurs.
The potential cost extends well beyond a single academic year. Based on a scenario assuming an average of 18 days of disrupted schooling per student, UNICEF estimates potential future earnings losses of at least $200 billion (about €172.4 billion). The agency emphasizes a crucial point: this is a modeling exercise, not money that has already disappeared, and effective learning continuity can limit learning losses.
Storms, floods, heat: children facing a year of disruptions
In 2025, storms emerged as the leading cause of school disruption, affecting roughly 109 million students. The damage goes beyond classrooms. Cyclones can destroy teaching materials, cut water and electricity supplies, displace teachers and families, or turn schools into shelters. The report also notes that exposure to tropical cyclones is linked to a 2.5% lower likelihood of starting primary school, with a disproportionate impact on girls.
Autumn 2025 was especially brutal. In October, 23 countries suspended classes following climate-related events—the most in a single month in 2025. Tropical cyclone Montha affected at least 16 million children in South Asia, while Hurricane Melissa disrupted the education of more than 3.3 million children in the Caribbean. In Jamaica, more than 600 elementary and secondary schools had been damaged, and disruptions persisted into June 2026. In some schools, students could attend classes only two or three days a week due to a shortage of usable classrooms.
Floods disrupted the schooling of at least 70 million students. In Pakistan, monsoon floods prevented more than 28 million students from returning to class as scheduled. In Niger, floods delayed the start of the academic year for about 4 million students for two weeks—a pattern that marked the second consecutive year in which floods forced a delayed return to classes.
The heat is no exception. Heat waves disrupted schooling in at least 10 countries and affected about 50 million children. Even European education systems had to adjust schedules or suspend classes: around 1.5 million children were affected in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. In South Sudan, dangerously high temperatures again led to nationwide closures after students fainted in classrooms.
Natural disasters: girls’ schooling appears particularly affected
The climate impact is global, but it is far from shared equally. Three-quarters of the 171 million affected students live in low- or lower-middle-income countries, UNICEF notes. These states have precisely fewer resources to rapidly repair buildings, install cooling systems, ensure access to water, or implement temporary teaching solutions.
Girls endure several vulnerabilities. When a school is damaged and water access becomes difficult, they may be asked to take on more domestic chores or water collection duties. Displacement and loss of income can also raise the risk of early marriage and make returning to class more challenging. “Climate hazards put the lives and futures of children at risk,” says UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell.
The country-by-country picture also highlights the scale of certain disruptions. Egypt accounts for roughly 28.44 million affected students, after national school closures during a khamsin dust storm swept from the desert into the northern part of the country. Pakistan counts about 28 million, India 26.10 million, and the Philippines 12.30 million.
Another example comes from Malaysia. Monsoon floods affected 94,091 students. Some schools shifted to home-based learning, while others served as evacuation centers. Meanwhile, the written exams for the national high school leaving certificate were maintained for more than 400,000 candidates, with relocation and transportation arrangements for those whose roads became impassable. This episode encapsulates the adaptive challenge: a disaster should not automatically mean a complete halt to learning.
Political and humanitarian fragility further complicates the picture. UNICEF examined 21 countries deemed especially prone to major educational crises and identified documented climate hazards in 19 of them. By overlapping humanitarian data with school-aged populations, the agency concludes there is a roughly 9 million-student undercount in crisis contexts.
Continuity of learning: hope remains, UNICEF insists
Yet several national experiences highlighted by UNICEF show what climate-adaptive schooling can look like. In Costa Rica, 4,038 school facility assessments and 3,391 safety plans were carried out under a program now integrated into the national monitoring system, benefiting more than 1 million students. In Tanzania, climate change clubs had been expanded to all secondary schools and to more than half of primary schools by the end of 2025, with 77 model schools and 9,865 youths participating in a climate leadership program.
For UNICEF, the answer must tie education policy more closely to climate policy: national adaptation plans, nationally determined contributions for emissions reductions, loss-and-damage strategies, school infrastructure, teacher training, continuity of learning, and data systems must be designed in unison. The school then appears in a dual light: an infrastructure highly exposed to a growing array of shocks, but also a key adaptation tool capable of imparting the skills that will help children thrive in a more volatile climate.
