LONDON: The latest report presents depressing facts about the deteriorating situation of people’s health due to climate change all over the world and points out that deaths relating to heat, air pollution, and extreme weather are going up exponentially in different parts of the world.
According to the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, the number of heat-related deaths due to extreme heat has gone up by 25% in comparison with the period after the 1990s, with the worldwide total of heat-related deaths being approximately 546,000 per year.
Moreover, the report discloses that the death rate due to air pollution from wildfires has hit 154,000 in 2024 alone.
However, the scientists state that the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and petrol is the primary cause of pollution that eventually results in around 2.5 million deaths per year.
The authors of the study remarked that the increase in deaths is happening at the same time as the announcement of several countries like the US that they would be lowering their climate change targets, thus exacerbating the global health crisis.
“The research group cautioned that the consequences of climate change which bring about deaths and loss of livelihoods, will keep on mounting if the use of fossil fuels is not stopped,”
The report indicated 2024 as the hottest year on earth in the history of mankind and revealed that people worldwide had to experience 16 more days of extreme heat on average than previously, a direct result of global warming.
The count of individuals with moderate to severe food insecurity in 2023 is 123 million higher than the average between 1981 and 2010.
Despite the frightening trends, the extraction of fossil fuels continues at full throttle. It said that in March 2025, a hundred of the world’s largest oil and gas companies collectively made a decision to increase their production plans.
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The research group gave a dire warning that the health care systems will be under huge pressure, the shortage of air-conditioning facilities will be felt, and the capability to deal with disasters will weaken if society keeps relying on fossil fuels. Consequently, the entire human race of 8 billion people will be at risk.
