“Shocking” Numbers: Report Warns of Climate Change Threats to the Elderly

A new report reveals that older adults are at the highest risk from climate change, with heat-related deaths among people over the age of 65 last year reaching a level 167% higher than in the 1990s.

• Due to climate change, “glacial lakes” threaten villages in Nepal

• Climate Change Forces Italy and Switzerland to Redraw Their Borders

The report, prepared by a group of doctors and health experts, warns that climate change driven by fossil fuel emissions is causing dangerously high temperatures and worsening issues of drought and food security, according to Reuters.

Record-breaking temperatures in 2023, the hottest year on record, suggest that the average person will experience 50 additional days of dangerous heat compared to what they would have endured without climate change, according to the annual “Lancet Countdown” report. This report is based on the work of dozens of experts, academic institutions, and United Nations agencies, including the World Health Organization.

• “Climate Change” Affects the Intensity of Rainfall and Hurricanes

• Negative Impact of Climate Change on Poor Women and Housewives

According to the report, without climate change, researchers would have expected only a 65% increase in heat-related deaths compared to the 1990s.

Marina Belen Romanello, executive director of Lancet Countdown, stated, “Year by year, deaths directly linked to climate change continue to rise.”

She added, “Heat not only impacts mortality rates and increases deaths, but it also amplifies diseases and health issues associated with heat exposure.”

• How does climate change affect mothers and children worldwide?

• Climate Change Accelerates… Are There Solutions? 

For example, she mentioned that people exercising outdoors are increasingly at risk, and companies face limitations on outdoor work.

The report’s authors also warn that climate change is destabilizing food security.

• How does climate change affect the acidity of the Southern Ocean?

• Climate change weakens the ability of structures in Siberia to resist warming

With up to 48% of the world’s land area experiencing severe drought conditions last year, researchers estimate that an additional 151 million people will suffer from food insecurity compared to the years 1981 to 2010.

Heavy rainfall last year also affected nearly 60% of land, leading to floods and increasing risks of water contamination or outbreaks of infectious diseases.