The number of people over 65 who have died from heat has increased by 85% since the early 1990s; Without climate change, this increase would have been only 38%. In 2021, 127 million additional people around the world said their food was insecure compared to the period 1981-2010, an increase directly linked to the increase in heatwaves and dry months.
These indicators are among the most alarming identified in the 2023 Lancet Countdown report. It is the result of the work of 114 experts from 52 countries and United Nations (UN) agencies looking at the past and future impacts of climate change on health and appears in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday 15 November The lancet.
Another lesson is that the number of days lost from work due to extreme temperatures increased by 42% between 1990 and 2022 The lancetThis represents a shortfall of $863 billion (€808 billion) for 2022. In countries with the lowest development indices, agriculture accounts for 82% of lost working time.
“Domestic air pollution”
The land area affected by extreme drought has increased by 29% since the 1950s, the report said. “This threatens our water security, our food security and of course our sanitation networks, with significant impacts on population health, particularly in areas such as the Horn of Africa.” said Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet Countdown and a researcher at University College London, as she presented the report to the press on November 9th.
About 92% of households in the poorest countries and 66% in middle-income countries still rely on burning biomass to meet their energy needs. “leading to incredibly high levels of household air pollution.”according to MMe Romanello. In 62 countries studied, indoor air pollution caused 140 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. Outdoor burning led to 1.2 million deaths last year – a slight decrease since 2005 (1.4 million).
The most developed countries are not immune. In the United States, the favorable season for transmission of the parasites responsible for malaria has increased by more than a third since the 1950s. In the Netherlands, babies under one year of age experienced heat waves on 40% more days between 2013 and 2022 compared to children of the same age in 1990-2000. The part of the Japanese coast that favors the development of bacteria that can cause diseases such as cholera has increased by 20% compared to the period 1982-2010 and now extends over 400 kilometers.
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