The War on Children in Numbers : Shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Click here for charts to explore the numbers

Click here for SCF's report "Security for Whom?" which we posted on November 5, 2025Hazel De Wet, Deputy Director at UNICEF

Yet impunity continues to reign. 

Ahead of the launch of Save the Children’s Stop the War on Children 2025 report, I invite you to join us in calling for urgent action to protect children in conflict.

The numbers are devastating: in 2024, 473 million children lived in conflict zones. The UN verified 41,763 grave violations (a 25% increase from 2023) including killing and maiming, recruitment, sexual violence, abductions, and attacks on schools and hospitals.

These are not statistics. These are children whose lives and futures are being taken from them.
Even in war, there are rules: rules that give children special protection. Every child has the right to life, health, education, and safety. These rights must be upheld.

 
We need renewed commitments to end impunity, strengthen investigations and prosecutions, and remove barriers that prevent children from accessing justice.

As we present this year’s findings, I ask for your voice:
Help amplify the urgency. Help hold perpetrators accountable. Help protect children everywhere.



The war on children is continuing to intensify, our new report shows: 2024 saw a record-high 520 million children or 1 in 5 globally, living in active conflict zones.

To put it in perspective:

If children living in conflict were a country, they would be the third largest nation!

The report also reveals a 30% jump in verified grave violations against children in conflict. More than half of the violations against children in 2024 occurred in only four countries: namely the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Somalia.

Behind every number is a child whose safety, education and future are at risk.

The report also questions the world’s approach to security, highlighting that less than 2% of global security spending goes to peacebuilding or peacekeeping, despite record-high military budgets.

True security isn’t about weapons or walls. It’s about whether children are safe, learning, and free from fear.

States must act decisively to prevent conflict and promote peace, protect children, ensure accountability and meaningfully listen to and involve children.