Greece’s Parliament has approved legislation prohibiting children under 15 from using social media, with the restriction scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. The law requires platforms to verify users’ ages and provides for penalties if companies fail to comply.

The decision adds Greece to a growing international effort to regulate children’s access to social networking platforms, as governments respond to concerns about online safety, excessive screen use and children’s mental health.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had announced the plan in April. His conservative New Democracy party used its parliamentary majority to pass the bill after a debate that continued from Thursday into Friday. The opposition PASOK party abstained, while other opposition parties voted against it.

How will the Age Restriction Work?

Social media companies will have to introduce age-verification systems to enforce the minimum age. Greece has identified digital tools such as Gov.gr Wallet and Kids Wallet as possible ways to support age checks. The precise implementation and how platforms will meet the requirements remain important questions ahead of the January deadline.

The government has linked the measure to concerns that social media use can interfere with children’s sleep, concentration and personal relationships. However, enforcing the age limit will depend on how platforms identify underage users and prevent them from creating or retaining accounts.

Age verification also raises questions about privacy. Systems that require identity documents or other personal information could expose users to additional data risks. The European Commission has been developing an age-verification system designed to confirm whether someone meets an age threshold without sharing their identity with the platform.

Greece Joins a Wider International Push

Australia became the first country to enforce a nationwide ban on social media for children under 16 in December 2025. Its law requires covered platforms to prevent underage access, with substantial financial penalties for non-compliance.

In Europe, the European Commission proposed the EU KIDS Act in September 2026. The proposal would prevent children under 13 from accessing social media accounts, allow limited, parent-supervised accounts for those aged 13 and 14, and set 15 as the minimum age for independently managed accounts. The proposal still needs approval through the EU legislative process.

These approaches differ in their age thresholds and enforcement mechanisms, reflecting an ongoing debate about how governments should balance children’s protection with access to digital communication and information.

Climate-related disasters disrupted schooling for at least 171 million students worldwide in 2025, affecting one in every 10 school-age children, according to a new UNICEF report that warns of growing threats to learning, educational equality and future economic prospects.

The report, Learning Interrupted: Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruptions in 2025, released on September 10, analysed data from 106 countries and territories. It found that storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires caused school closures, shortened teaching hours, reduced attendance and shifts to remote learning.

The findings underline how climate change is emerging as a threat to educational continuity, particularly in countries where schools lack the infrastructure and resources to withstand extreme weather.

Storms and floods interrupt learning

Storms were the leading cause of climate-related school disruptions in 2025, affecting 109 million students globally. Floods affected at least 70 million, while heatwaves disrupted schooling for approximately 50 million children. These figures overlap and should not be added together as separate groups.

In Pakistan, severe monsoon flooding in August delayed the return to school for more than 28 million students. In Egypt, a powerful Khamsin wind-and-dust storm prompted a nationwide suspension of classes for one day, affecting more than 28 million students.

The problem extends beyond individual disasters. Forty countries experienced multiple rounds of climate-related school disruptions during 2025, exposing students to repeated interruptions throughout the academic year.

Floods can damage classrooms, sanitation facilities and learning materials, while extreme heat can make classrooms unsafe and undermine students’ ability to concentrate. Even after schools reopen, damaged infrastructure, disrupted transport and household financial pressures can prevent children from returning to regular attendance.

A growing threat to educational equality

Three-quarters of the students affected in 2025 lived in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where education systems often have fewer resources to prepare for disasters and restore teaching afterwards, UNICEF found.

The World Bank’s 2024 report, Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action, offers further evidence of the long-term challenge. It estimated that 400 million students globally experienced school closures due to extreme weather between 2022 and 2024. In affected schools in low-income countries, students lost approximately 45 instructional days between January 2022 and June 2024, compared with around six days in high-income countries.

These interruptions can compound existing educational disadvantages. Students from wealthier households may have access to private tutoring, digital devices and alternative learning arrangements. Children from poorer households may lack internet connectivity, electricity or suitable spaces to study during closures.

South Asia’s exposure highlights the challenge

UNICEF’s previous assessment, covering 2024, recorded at least 242 million students experiencing climate-related school disruptions across 85 countries and territories. South Asia was the most affected region, with 128 million students impacted. Heatwaves affected an estimated 171 million students worldwide that year.

India was among the countries affected by heat-related educational disruptions. In April 2024, extreme heat contributed to school interruptions across Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, the Philippines and Thailand, affecting at least 118 million children collectively. The figure represents the five-country group, not India alone.

The 2024 and 2025 totals should not be interpreted as a direct year-on-year decline. The reports covered different sets of countries and climate events, and the number of recorded disruptions depends on the incidents identified in each assessment.

Climate-resilient schools become a priority

UNICEF estimates that disruptions experienced in 2025 could cost affected students at least US$200 billion in lifetime earnings through lost learning and widening educational inequalities. This is a projection of potential future losses, rather than income already lost.

The World Bank has argued that relatively modest investments can help schools adapt. Its 2024 analysis estimated that a one-time investment of US$18.51 per child could help mitigate learning losses through measures such as improving classroom temperatures, strengthening school infrastructure and training teachers.

Aerial view showing significant flood damage in a residential neighborhood with inundated streets and homes.Image credit:Pexels

UNICEF is calling for climate resilience to be incorporated into education planning, alongside investment in stronger school buildings, emergency preparedness and systems that allow teaching to continue during disasters.

As extreme weather increasingly interrupts academic calendars, education systems must prepare not only to enrol children but also to protect their ability to learn. Climate-resilient infrastructure, early-warning systems and plans for educational continuity will be essential to ensuring that disasters do not deepen existing inequalities in access to education.

The global economy is undergoing a profound employment transition, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation, demographic changes and the shift towards greener industries. Yet, while these forces are expected to create new career opportunities, access to employment and the benefits of technological progress remain deeply unequal, according to the United Nations’ World Social Report 2026.

Released on October 15, the report, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), warns that billions of people remain excluded from the jobs, skills, infrastructure and social protections required to participate in economic transformation. Its findings highlight a central challenge for policymakers: creating employment opportunities is not enough unless people can access them and secure decent working conditions.

The scale of the problem is evident in the report’s latest figures. In 2025, 58 per cent of workers worldwide were informally employed, while 27 per cent of young women aged 15–24 were neither employed nor participating in education or training. An estimated 2.2 billion people also lacked internet access, limiting their ability to benefit from digital services, online learning and emerging employment opportunities.

More Jobs, but Unequal Opportunities

The challenge extends beyond unemployment to the quality and security of work. The International Labour Organization’s Employment and Social Trends 2026 report estimated that global unemployment would remain at 4.9 per cent in 2026, equivalent to approximately 186 million people. However, nearly 300 million workers continued to live in extreme working poverty, surviving on less than US$3 a day. The report also projected that 2.1 billion workers would be in informal employment in 2026, often without adequate social protection or employment security.

Young people face particular difficulties entering the labour market. According to the ILO, youth unemployment reached 12.4 per cent in 2025, while approximately 260 million young people were not in employment, education or training. For many, the transition from education to work remains uncertain, particularly where economies fail to generate enough productive jobs.

These challenges coincide with substantial changes in the kinds of jobs employers expect to need. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, based on projections from more than 1,000 employers, estimates that technological, economic, demographic and green-transition trends could create 170 million jobs globally by 2030 while displacing 92 million. This would produce a net gain of 78 million jobs. However, the report warns that the transition will require extensive workforce adaptation. Nearly 40 per cent of workers’ existing skills are expected to change by 2030, and 63 per cent of surveyed employers identified skills gaps as a major barrier to business transformation.

The projections suggest that the central employment challenge is not simply whether jobs will disappear, but whether workers can move into emerging roles. Demand is expected to grow in areas such as AI, data analysis and cybersecurity, alongside essential occupations in healthcare, education and agriculture. Workers whose skills do not match changing requirements risk being excluded even as new vacancies emerge.

Digital Access and Skills Will Shape the Transition

Access to technology is another dividing line. The World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025 identifies disparities in connectivity, computing infrastructure, relevant data and digital skills as barriers to wider participation in the AI economy. While AI adoption is expanding, high-income countries continue to dominate important areas of AI innovation and computing capacity.

Representational image.Image credit:Pexels

For people without reliable internet access, affordable devices or opportunities to acquire digital skills, the shift towards online recruitment, digital services and AI-assisted work can deepen existing disadvantages. Connectivity alone, however, is insufficient: workers also need relevant training, accessible education and opportunities to apply their skills in productive employment.

The UN report argues that governments must invest in quality education, lifelong learning, digital and AI capabilities, affordable connectivity and stronger social protection. Labour-market policies must also support decent working conditions, equal opportunities and training that helps workers move between occupations.

For developing economies with large young populations, the stakes are particularly high. A growing workforce can support economic growth only when enough productive jobs are available and workers can acquire the capabilities those jobs demand. Without such opportunities, demographic potential can translate into prolonged unemployment, insecure work and widening inequality.