#YouthStats: Environment and Climate Change


“We are the first generation that can end poverty. We are also the last generation that can slow global warming before it is too late.” – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 2015.

Climate Change

  • Close to half a million youth around the world have taken action on climate change through SGP
    [small grants programmes] projects in their homes, schools and communities. [UNDP, Fast Facts: Youth and Climate Change, 2015, http://goo.gl/Luyn3P
  • By 2050, with a projected increased global population of 9.6 billion, we would need the equivalent of almost 3 planets worth of resources to sustain our way of living, if our current consumption and production patterns remain the same. [UNEP, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Niu2q7]
  • 84% of the surveyed young people agree that they need more information to prevent climate change. [UNEP, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Niu2q7]
  • About 73% of surveyed youth say they currently feel the effects climate change. [UNEP, GlobeScan Survey, 2008, http://bit.ly/1CtR3zZ]
  • Some 89% of youth respondents say young people can make a difference on climate change. [UNEP, GlobeScan Survey, 2008, http://bit.ly/1CtR3zZ]
  • Only 9% of youth are very confident the world will act quickly enough to address climate change. [UNEP, GlobeScan Survey, 2008, http://bit.ly/1CtR3zZ]
  • Young people are key actors in raising awareness, running educational programmes, promoting sustainable lifestyles,  conserving nature, supporting renewable energy, adopting environmentally-friendly practices and implementing adaptation and mitigation projects. [UNFCCC]
  • Youth constitute the majority of the population in many countries and have an increasingly strong social and environmental awareness, which has the power to transform our societies towards a low-carbon and climate resilient future. [United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change, 2010, http://bit.ly/1FBQsfy]

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Hunger and Poverty

  • Climate change potentially represents a major threat to the health and socio-economic stability of youth—particularly in developing countries, where 80% of young people live. [United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change, 2010, http://bit.ly/1FBQsfy]
  • Climate change will continue to affect all aspects of food security, especially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, where more than 1 billion young men and women live. [United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change, 2010, http://bit.ly/1FBQsfy

Extreme Weather

  • The intensification of extreme weather events is likely to be a major factor affecting the health and safety of many youth living in these areas, especially those residing in South Asia, Central America, and the small island developing States of the Caribbean and Pacific regions. [United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change, 2010, http://bit.ly/1FBQsfy]
  • The intensification of extreme weather events & climate change represent major threats to the health and well-being of youth—especially in developing countries, where the majority (almost 85%) of young people live. [UNEP, 2011, http://bit.ly/1Niu2q7]
  • In Africa, droughts and floods have led to increased reliance on migration as an adaptation measure; over the past 20 years more than 10 million people in the region have been displaced owing to environmental degradation and desertification. [United Nations Joint Framework Initiative on Children, Youth and Climate Change, 2010, http://bit.ly/1FBQsfy]

PDF Version: Youth Stats: Environment and Climate Change