Even as the world comes to a boil under the unrelenting impact of climate change, heatwaves have emerged as a major killer, nowhere more than in India, which accounts for 20 percent of the global heat wave toll
A new study reveals that heatwaves are responsible for over 153,000 deaths each year globally, with India experiencing the highest proportion of these fatalities. The research, led by Monash University in Australia, highlights that India accounts for more than 20 percent of the heatwave-related deaths over the past three decades. China and Russia follow, with approximately 14 percent and 8 percent of such deaths, respectively.
The comprehensive study, published in PLoS Medicine, underscores that heatwave-induced excess mortality represents about one-third of all heat-related deaths and roughly 1 percent of all global deaths. The analysis shows that Asia is the region most affected by this, contributing over half of these additional deaths, while Europe accounts for more than 30 percent. Areas characterised by drier climates and lower-middle income levels exhibit the highest mortality rates relative to their populations.
The research, which spanned the warm seasons from 1990 to 2019, found that heatwaves were linked to 153,078 excess deaths annually, equating to 236 deaths per ten million residents. This data was gathered through the UK-based Multi-Country Multi-City (MCC) Collaborative Research Network, which integrates daily mortality and temperature data from 750 locations across 43 countries