A new report by the suUnited Nations Children’s Fund, titled, ‘Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures,’  identified geopolitics, economic, environmental and climate change, technology, and  global governance as the crises that will disproportionately impact children in the next 12 months.

A report on UNICEF’s website published in January 2025 said that the report was the latest edition of the Global Outlook, a series of reports produced each year by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight.

It looked at the key trends affecting children and young people over the following 12 months and beyond.

The report maintained that many of these crises such as climate change, conflict, and economic instability were deeply interconnected and reflected rising geopolitical tensions and competition between nations, which are obstructing the development of effective solutions.

It added, “The world is facing a new and intensifying era of crisis for children. Many of these crises – including climate change, conflict, and economic instability – are closely interconnected. They reflect a world of rising geopolitical tensions and competition among nations, which are hindering the implementation of solutions.

“To uphold children’s rights and well-being, action is needed to rethink and strengthen systems. Systems approaches (i.e., approaches that go beyond mere service delivery) are essential to build resilience into every area of children’s lives, whether it is disaster preparedness frameworks that safeguard schools and communities, education systems that can adapt during emergencies, or inclusive healthcare systems that respond to immediate needs while planning for future risks.”

It stated that these systems must not only address current global challenges but also anticipate and prepare for what lies ahead, including in the thematic areas covered in this report’s ‘Issues to watch’ section.

The report advised that strong legal frameworks foster an environment where compliance with child-rights law and international humanitarian law is non-negotiable and accountability inevitable.

While analysing the environment and climate change impact, it revealed that children were disproportionately impacted by climate change due to their unique physiological and developmental characteristics, saying children under five years of age bore 88 per cent of the global disease burden associated with climate change.

“To address the critical intersection of climate action and child rights, action is needed to ensure national policy frameworks more explicitly incorporate child rights through dedicated commitments, timelines, and funding allocations. On funding, climate finance should include earmarked funding for child-centred climate initiatives. On regulation, strengthening legally backed climate reporting and monitoring are key to effective climate action for children.”

Digital Public Infrastructure was identified to play a crucial role in advancing children’s well-being by ensuring equitable access to essential services such as education, health care, and social protection.

The report said that key priorities included enabling seamless, safe, and secure data exchange between health, education, and social services to create a holistic support system for child development; factoring in the needs and sensitivities of vulnerable and marginalised groups; and empowering children, youth and their families through digital financial inclusion and literacy.

“DPI systems have immense potential to transform public services for children and families. In doing so, they must prioritise children’s rights and truly serve the best interests of every child.”

Economically, the report reflected that the failure to invest in children not only harms children’s lives today (and their lifetime prospects), but also undermines countries’ long-term capacity to repay their debts.

“In 2025, the global financial system will confront important decisions on reforms to the international financial architecture, which governs global finance. These reforms could reshape the financial landscape, with a focus on sustainable development, intergenerational equity, and investing in children. Key proposals may include a ‘Children’s Debt Reset,’ automatic debt service suspension triggers, improved access to concessional finance, and greater transparency in Official Development Assistance,” it said.

The author were Jasmina Byrne, Gary Risser, Melvin Bretón Guerrero, Cristina Colón, Manasi Nanavati, Camila Teixeira, Andaleeb Alam, and Alun Rhydderch.