More Indians losing lives because of high temperatures now, says study

In a finding that would leave environmentalists concerned, a recent study published in reputed medical journal The Lancet has said that India saw a 55 per cent rise in deaths caused by extreme heat between 2000 and 2004 and 2017 and 2021.

Besides, hot conditions also led to a loss of 167.2 billion potential labour hours among Indians last year, the study added, the BBC reported. This caused loss of incomes equivalent to about 5.4 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.

While many parts of the country have experienced heatwaves in summer regularly, experts have said that these are now becoming longer and more intense.

In the annual Lancet Countdown report published on Tuesday (25), researchers found that the heatwave which hit the South Asian neighbours of India and Pakistan in March and April was 30 times more likely to have been caused by climate change.

The report had a look at 103 countries.

"Exposure to extreme heat affects health directly, exacerbating underlying conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and causing heat stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes, worsened sleep patterns, poor mental health, and increased injury-related death," the study said, adding that vulnerable people were most at risk.

Earlier in 2022, a study by the UK's Met Office found something worrying -- record-breaking heatwaves in northwest India and Pakistan have become 100 times more likely because of climate change.

It also added that without climate change, such extreme temperatures would be seen once in more than three centuries.

The Lancet report also said that globally too, deaths caused by heat have gone up by two thirds over the last two decades.

The study also added that more than 3,30,000 people in India lost their lives because of exposure to particulate matter -- tiny particles that can harm lungs -- from the burning of fossil fuel last year.

"The climate crisis is killing us," UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said in response to the findings of the report which was released ahead of the COP27 climate conference which will be held in Egypt next month.

"It is undermining not just the health of our planet, but the health of people everywhere - through toxic air pollution, diminishing food security, higher risks of infectious disease outbreaks, record extreme heat, drought, floods and more," he said.