
Heat-Related Deaths Up 68% Between 2000-04 And 2017-21: Global Report
NDTV
The report, brought out by Lancet Countdown, focuses on the health effects of climate change amid the health, social and economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global energy and cost-of-living crises brought about by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a persistent over-dependence on fossil fuels.
Heat-related deaths increased by 68 per cent between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, while vulnerable populations -- the elderly and children less than a year old -- were exposed to 3.7 billion more heatwave days in 2021 than annually in 1986-2005, according to a global report.
The report, brought out by Lancet Countdown, focuses on the health effects of climate change amid the health, social and economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global energy and cost-of-living crises brought about by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a persistent over-dependence on fossil fuels.
While floods in Australia, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and other countries have caused thousands of deaths, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and caused billions of dollars in economic losses, wildfires have caused devastation in countries like Greece, Algeria, Italy, Spain and record temperatures have been recorded in many countries, according to the report.
According to the report, extreme weather events caused damage worth USD 253 billion in 2021, particularly burdening people in low human development index (HDI) countries in which almost none of the losses were insured.