From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

But childhood poor quality water, disease and nutritional deficits also contribute.

DEC. 9, 2025 / 10:12 AM

Climate change might slow intellectual development, experts warn

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News

Climate change could pose a threat to children’s intellectual development, a new study says.

Kids growing up under higher-than-usual temperatures — average temps above 86 degrees Fahrenheit — are less likely to meet developmental milestones for literacy and mathematics, researchers reported Monday in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

“Because early development lays the foundation for lifelong learning, physical and mental health, and overall well-being, these findings should alert researchers, policymakers and practitioners to the urgent need to protect children’s development in a warming world,” lead researcher Jorge Cuartas, an assistant professor of applied psychology at New York University, said in a news release.

For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 19,600 3- and 4-year-olds in the African nations of Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi and Sierra Leone; in Georgia, a nation on the Black Sea; and in Palestine.

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These effects were more pronounced among kids from poor households, those who lacked access to clean water and those living in urban areas.

…Read more: https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2025/12/09/Climate-change-might-slow-intellectual-development-experts-warn/2241765292796/

The abstract of the study.

Ambient heat and early childhood development: a cross-national analysis

Jorge Cuartas, Lenin H. Balza, Andrés Camacho, Nicolás Gómez-Parra

First published: 08 December 2025

Abstract

Background

Increasing evidence suggests that climate change, along with its cascading impacts on ecosystems, societies, and communities, has significant effects on both physical and mental health. However, less is known about how exposure to excessive heat early in life may influence the development of foundational skills that shape lifelong developmental trajectories. This study examined the effects of ambient heat on early childhood development across six countries, using geographic and time-stamped data on child development and ambient temperature.

Methods

Our primary outcome is the Early Childhood Development Index. We used linear probability models with geographic and seasonality fixed effects to account for baseline climatic conditions, as well as other individual and contextual covariates to address potential selection bias. The sample comprised 19,607 children aged three and four from Georgia, The Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and the State of Palestine, all participants in Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys collected between 2017 and 2020. We merged these data with temperature data from the ERA5-Land Monthly Aggregated Climate Dataset, calculating the mean monthly maximum temperature children experienced from birth to interview.

Results

We found that children exposed to average maximum temperatures above 32°C were less likely to be developmentally on track compared to those exposed to cooler temperatures, even after accounting for baseline average climatic conditions and other covariates. Domain-specific models indicate that these effects were most pronounced in literacy and numeracy skills. Subgroup analyses revealed that the negative impacts were particularly severe for children in economically disadvantaged households and urban areas, and for those lacking access to adequate water and sanitation.

Conclusions

This study highlights the potential impact of excessive heat on early childhood development, emphasizing the need for policies and interventions that enhance preparedness, adaptation, and resilience to support human development in an rapidly warming world.Read more: https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.70081

If heat is the major negative factor in childhood development, why is Singapore so smart?

The sample – “children aged three and four from Georgia, The Gambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and the State of Palestine” – for some reason excluded places like Singapore.

Singapore, which sits almost directly on the tropics, is a nation of high achievers, and consistently achieves high education rankings, and is frequently cited as an example other nations should try to emulate.

There is an obvious difference between Singapore and the nations included in the study: Singapore has a stable society, good food, clean water, and a high quality medical system.

Let’s just say I’m not convinced heat alone plays a significant role.