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Air pollution kills an estimated 600,000 children every year, according to a new report.
Air pollution also causes loss of intelligence, obesity and ear infections but there is a limited amount parents can do, the World Health Organisation survey said.
Parents should try to avoid household air pollution by using less polluting fuels for cooking and heating and not smoking, WHO experts said.
To reduce child exposure to ambient pollution parents need to lobby politicians to clean up the environment, they added.
"Polluted air is poisoning millions of children and ruining their lives," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. Large parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America are among the worst affected.
"This is inexcusable. Every child should be able to breathe clean air so they can grow and fulfil their full potential.”
The WHO report, "Prescribing clean air", summarised the latest scientific knowledge on the effect on children of air pollution, which affects about 93 per cent of children globally. Maria Neira, WHO's head of environmental determinants of health, said the worrying findings highlighted in the study should lead to policy changes globally.
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