June 30, 2026 – UNICEF published a global report that reveals how the rapid global expansion of pesticide use—more than doubling between 1990 and 2022—has far outpaced protections for children. New analyses suggest that as many as 490 million children and adolescents may face potential exposure to agricultural pesticides, while biomonitoring shows that the vast majority of children in high-income countries carry detectable pesticide residues in their bodies.
The report highlights that the true scale of harm remains underestimated for children globally, with pesticide poisonings and deaths significantly under-reported in global data systems and risks amplified for the 83.4 million children engaged in agricultural work. It calls for urgent, coordinated regulatory, agricultural, health-system and societal action.