45 million children were forced from their homes by conflict and violence globally at the end of 2025 – equivalent to more than three times the number of children in the UK.
International disaster relief charity ShelterBox has released a poignant new video to highlight this figure, filmed at a primary school in Cornwall. The video opens with 45 children seated in school chairs in a playground. Each child represents one million children forced from their homes. Row by row, the children walk away, leaving a haunting image symbolising the children who have had to flee their homes due to conflict.
Alice Jefferson, Head of Emergency Responses and Preparedness at ShelterBox, said:
“The scale of the global displacement crisis is difficult to comprehend. Behind every number is a child who has lost the safety of home, the comfort of routine and the chance to simply be a child. These are children who have lost their homes and should be in classrooms, playing with friends and looking forward to their future, not living through conflict and uncertainty.
“As an organisation that sees the devastating impact that displacement has on children’s lives, we want to make these numbers impossible to ignore.”
ShelterBox supported over 231,000 people in 2025, 57,600 of whom were children and is already nearing similar numbers this year, reaching over 54,200 children so far in 2026.
Young people’s lives are being increasingly threatened and disrupted by human-made crises like wars and conflict, on top of disasters like earthquakes and drought. The number of children displaced by conflict alone has risen by more than 65% in just four years.
At the end of 2025, conflict overtook disasters as the main driver of internal displacement (people who are displaced from their homes but remain in their country) for the first time³ and of all the children internally displaced at the end of 2025, 84% were fleeing conflict and violence.
Displaced children are at greater risk of missing education, exploitation, child labour, malnutrition, and poor mental health. This is what makes the type of support they receive so crucial. When children have lost people, predictability and an environment familiar to them, being able to stay with their families is as important to their emotional wellbeing, sense of safety and ability to recover, as it is to their physical health.
Sarah Halligan, Professor of Child and Family Mental Health at the University of Bath, commented:
“Children’s recovery rests upon their parents feeling safe and secure. In our research with displaced and marginalised families across the Middle East and Africa, we’ve seen how the daily struggle for shelter, food and other essentials can leave parents overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.
“Providing safe shelter, household essentials and support with basic needs can ease that burden, allowing parents to be more emotionally available and responsive to their children. That sense of stability is not only important for family wellbeing, but it can also help protect children from some of the lasting mental health impacts of war, conflict and displacement.”
ShelterBox supports people with shelter and life-saving items, helping them to begin the long journey towards recovery. By enabling families to stay together and regain stability, children can return to everyday routines like cooking, playing and doing homework and knowing their children’s basic needs are being met, parents can begin to look towards the future.
This is particularly crucial for those in long-term crises who may be living in shelters for months or even years.
Alice Jefferson added:
“Conflict can take away almost everything in an instant: a family’s home, their belongings, their community and their sense of safety. By speaking with families to understand their needs, we can provide a space that supports them in maintaining security, dignity and privacy.
“Providing durable shelters – such as those made of tarpaulins and wooden beams that families can stand in – not only enables them to move out from overcrowded communal spaces but also allows for some sense of routine to be maintained.
“And aid items like cooking sets and solar lamps help people to undertake fundamental household activities that many of us take for granted, like cooking and eating together as a family. It’s these acts of routine that can create feelings of stability and set the foundations for a different tomorrow.”
Working alongside local partners and communities, ShelterBox has supported 3.2 million people across more than 100 countries. The charity is currently supporting people affected by disaster in 18 countries, including families who lost their homes in the recent earthquakes in Nepal and Venezuela, alongside conflict in Yemen, Sudan and Somalia.
To show their support for children and young people affected by conflict and disaster, readers can add their name to ShelterBox’s Children’s Handraiser: www.shelterbox.org/children-
