Soaring temperatures are killing nearly 550,000 people around the world each year, part of a heat death toll t
hat’s climbed more than 20% on a population-adjusted basis since
the 1990s, according to the latest edition of the Lancet’s annual report on climate and health.
“That’s approximately one heat-related death every minute throughout the year,” says Ollie Jay, a heat and heal
th expert at the University of Sydney and a co-author of the new report. “So this is a really startling number.”
It’s the first year that the medical journal has reported the total number of global heat-related deaths, whic
h it calculated through recent advances in methods to estimate heat-related deaths and better access to detailed
death data in different countries. (The Lancet has previously shared percentage increases in such deaths.)
The new numbers come during a year of record-setting temperatures around the world. In Europe, residents and s
ummer tourists were scorched by heatwaves over the summer, while parts of Asia and the US were also gripped by extreme heat.
Read more: Climate Change Led to At Least 16,500 Heat Deaths in Europe This Summer
The report — the Lancet’s ninth — reflects work by 128 researchers globally and across 71 organizations. Th
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ey found that most days of heat wave conditions people around the world experienced over the last five years wouldn’t have happened without climate change.
Hotter conditions are taking a toll not just onhuman health but also the economy. Lost labor productivity rela
ted to heat caused an estimated $1 trillion in income losses in 2024, equival
ent to nearly 1% of global gross domestic product. Sleep lost at night to high temperatures alsoincreased by a record 9% in 2024, according to the report.
Jay says scientists fear that parts of the world are nearing so-called physiological tipping points, when it’s so hot and humid that people can no longer survive. T
hat concern has been stoked by accelerating climate change, and by
new evidence that serious risks may begin at cooler and drier conditions than previously thought, he added. In L
atin America, for example, heat-related deaths have more than dou
bled since 2000, with around 13,000 such deaths occurring a year,
according to a Lancet report focused on the region that was also released on Tuesday.
“We’re potentially reaching these limits in different parts of the world at an alarming rate or approaching them,” Jay says. “It’s something that needs urgent action.”