Almost half of young people in Africa have reconsidered having children due to climate change according to results from a UNICEF U-Report poll of 243,512 worldwide respondents.
Globally, 2 in 5 young people said the impacts of climate change have made them reconsider their desire to start a family.
The U-Report poll received responses from young people in 163 countries in July and August 2022.
Youths in the African region were the majority on reconsidering having children, with the highest number being found in the Middle East and North Africa with 44 percent and Sub-Saharan Africa with 43 percent.
Reason for this decision, they said, is because they have experienced a range of climate shocks more than other young people globally, saying these shocks had impacted their access to food and water, as well as their family’s income.
This was revealed by Paloma Escudero, head of UNICEF’s COP27 delegation on Wednesday at the COP27 climate conference that took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Echoing these findings a survey published by The Lancet last year found 39 per cent of the 10,000 global respondents were hesitant to have children.
Currently, 942,000 children aged between 6-59 months and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment according to National Drought Management Authority.
In addition the number of people affected by the ongoing drought now stands at 4.35m.
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