Climate change, including frequent heatwaves and extreme temperatures, is already negatively impacting human health, agriculture, and ecosystems. New findings indicate that rising temperatures also hinder critically important aspects of early childhood development.
A study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry reports that children exposed to temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) were less likely to achieve expected outcomes in reading and arithmetic compared to their peers living in cooler conditions.
While the link between high temperatures and negative health outcomes has been known previously, this study reveals a new aspect: excessive heat particularly adversely affects the development of children in various countries. Considering that early development is the foundation for further learning, physical, and mental health, these findings should draw the attention of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to the need to protect child development in the context of global warming.
The study analyzed data on 19,607 children aged three to four years from countries such as Gambia, Georgia, Madagascar, Malawi, Palestine, and Sierra Leone. These countries were chosen due to the availability of detailed information on child development, living conditions, and climate conditions, allowing for an assessment of the level of heat exposure for each child.
To assess the level of development, the Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) was used, which tracks progress in four areas: reading and counting skills (literacy and arithmetic), social-emotional development, approaches to learning, and physical development. Researchers integrated ECDI data with information from the 2017-2020 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), which include demographic and social indicators such as education, health, nutrition, and sanitation. By combining this data with climate records showing average monthly temperatures, scientists explored possible links between heat exposure and early development.
The results showed that children exposed to average maximum temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) were 5-6.7% less likely to reach basic levels of literacy and numeracy than their peers exposed to temperatures below 26 °C (78.8 °F) in similar conditions. The most significant impact was observed among children from economically disadvantaged families, with limited access to clean water and in densely populated urban areas.
