WATCH: More than 5 million people die annually due to extreme temperatures, study finds

The study found that extreme heat and cold killed 5.08 million people on average every year from 2000–2019. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

The study found that extreme heat and cold killed 5.08 million people on average every year from 2000–2019. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

Published Jul 19, 2022

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More than five million people die on average each year globally due to extreme temperatures, according to the findings of a 20-year study.

The study, published in July 2021, was conducted by a team of researchers who looked at international mortality figures over a 20-year period from 2000 to 2019.

The study was led by Yu Ming Guo from Monash University in Australia, Shan Shan Li and Qi Zhao, both from Shandong University in China.

The researchers studied mortality and weather data from 43 countries on five continents. These countries account for 46.3% of the world’s population.

Analysis of 130 million deaths globally, the scientists' objective was to understand how extreme temperatures affect people in these countries.

The study found that extreme heat and cold killed 5.08 million people on average every year from 2000 to 2019. Of this, 4.6 million deaths on average occur annually due to extreme cold, while just under half a million deaths occurred due to extreme heat.

According to the study, this means close to nine out of every 100 deaths in the world in this period were due to extreme cold.

More than half, or 2.6 million, of the cold-related deaths, were in Asia, especially in eastern and southern Asia.

Interestingly, deaths related to extreme cold have been a greater risk to people living in sub-Saharan Africa, with the region estimated to have had 116 excess deaths per 100 000 people, the highest cold-related excess death rate, across the five continents considered in the study.

According to the study, this is 1.6 times more than the global average of 74 excess deaths.

Another interesting finding from the study is that less than one percent of global deaths, on average each year, were linked to extremely hot temperatures and of the 0.48 million annual heat-related deaths, 0.22 million occurred in Asia. Of this, 83 700, or over 37%, occurred in India.

Most deaths were from the cold, according to the study. However, heat-related deaths were on the rise due to climate change, it said. While cold-related deaths decreased by 0.51% during the 20-year study period, heat-related deaths increased by 0.21%.

Even a minuscule increase in average temperatures raises the chances of heatwave deaths.

Guo said on the Monash University website that “in the long-term, heat-related mortality will continue to increase.”

Climate change is making heat waves more dangerous, another global study published in Nature in May 2021, has warned.

Recently, several major cities across all continents have experienced some of the highest daily temperatures ever recorded, with climate trends predicting that this is only going to get worse.

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