Half a billion children live in areas with twice as many very hot days as in 1960s

A girl in Mali, one of the countries worst affected by the rise of extreme heat. Photograph: Feije Riemersma/Alamy

Almost half a billion children are growing up in parts of the world where there are at least twice the number of extremely hot days every year compared with six decades ago, analysis by Unicef has found.

The analysis by the UN’s children’s agency examined for the first time data on changes in children’s exposure to extreme heat over the past 60 years.