The War On Children

Over 473 million children - more than 1 in 6 globally - are now living in areas affected by armed conflict. That proportion has nearly doubled since the 1990s, when around 10% of the world's children lived in conflict zones. Today it is close to 19%. The world is currently experiencing the highest number of conflicts since World War II - and children are paying the heaviest price.

2024 was, by almost every measure, one of the worst years on record for children caught up in war. The UN verified a record 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024 - a 25% increase on the previous year, and the highest figure since the Children and Armed Conflict mandate began nearly 30 years ago. These violations include children being killed, maimed, abducted, recruited into armed groups, and subjected to sexual violence.

Children living through conflict face increasing levels of danger, trauma, and long-term harm. Our 2025 research shows that blast injuries among children have risen sharply in the world’s most dangerous conflict zones, leaving many with life-changing wounds and limited access to specialised care. Beyond physical injuries, conflict also disrupts children’s education, emotional wellbeing, and sense of safety.

War doesn't just put children in physical danger - though that alone is devastating. It dismantles every part of childhood.

When bombs fall and bullets fly, children are killed and injured, forced from their homes, and separated from their families. Schools are destroyed or occupied by armed forces. Hospitals are overwhelmed or targeted. The basics of childhood - safety, education, play - can disappear overnight. Conflict also drives around 80% of all humanitarian needs globally, cutting off children's access to food, clean water, and healthcare.

The psychological toll is just as severe. Children who witness violence, lose loved ones, or live in constant fear of attack carry those wounds long after the fighting stops. Without proper support, trauma shapes their development and relationships for years.

Girls face particular risks. In conflict settings, rates of gender-based violence increase sharply, and girls are more likely to be pulled out of school or pushed into early marriage as families struggle to cope.

To understand these challenges in more detail, explore our latest blogs:

• How war affects children – a simple breakdown of the physical and emotional impact of conflict on children.
• What children in conflict need – the essentials every child should have in war zones.
• How Save the Children is helping in Gaza right now – what is happening and what we are doing.
• Chouchou’s story from the DRC – how one child is healing after a devastating blast injury.

Save the Children's 2025 blast injuries report found that explosive weapons are now the leading cause of child casualties in conflict. Between 2020 and 2024, nearly 50,000 children were killed or injured by explosive weapons - accounting for over 60% of all verified child casualties. In 2024 alone, nearly 12,000 children were killed or injured, the highest number ever recorded.

Children's smaller bodies and developing organs make blast injuries particularly catastrophic. Yet in too many conflict zones, children's specific medical needs are overlooked. Those who survive often face lifelong disability, chronic pain, and lasting psychological harm.

Save the Children was founded to protect children caught up in conflict, and we continue that work in some of the world's most dangerous places today.

In Gaza, we provided cash assistance, clean water, safe spaces for children, and primary healthcare - despite an extremely challenging context. In Sudan, where more than 25 million people - over half of them children - needed humanitarian support by the end of 2024, we ran mobile health clinics, tackled cholera outbreaks, and kept children learning. In Myanmar, we helped over 43,000 students continue their education in conflict-affected areas. And in DRC, we worked to get 60,000 out-of-school children back into learning.

Across all these contexts, we raised £31 million for emergency response work in 2024 and deployed our global humanitarian teams - often already present before a crisis escalates - to deliver lifesaving support fast.

But emergency aid alone is not enough. We also campaign to hold governments and armed groups accountable under international law, and to ensure children are never treated as acceptable casualties of war. In 2024, over 100,000 people signed our petition calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. We brought young people from DRC, Sudan, Ukraine, and the occupied Palestinian territory to speak directly with the UK Minister for Children and Armed Conflict - their accounts helped shape the UK's first Children and Armed Conflict Strategy.

Children do not choose to grow up in a war zone. But together, we can make sure they are not abandoned in one.