Rising heat is putting elderly populations at growing risk, study finds
A new Lancet study finds elderly populations face rapidly growing exposure to dangerous heat as the planet warms, with South Asia and the Gulf facing the most severe risks.
A study published in The Lancet finds that older adults face sharply higher exposure to dangerous heat than younger age groups as global temperatures rise, with the gap widening the more the planet warms. At 1.5C of warming, researchers estimate 290 million of the world's 1.33 billion people over 60 already experience at least 180 hours a year of heat their bodies can't adequately cope with; at 4C of warming, that number would jump to 1.85 billion elderly people.
South Asia and the Persian Gulf face the most severe projected impacts, with parts of those regions potentially seeing months of continuous dangerous heat exposure at 3C or more of warming. Southwest Europe — including Portugal, Spain and France — shows a different but related risk: rising summer heat overlapping with rapidly aging populations, particularly in inland Spain.
Researchers argue heat needs to be treated as a public health issue rather than just a weather event, calling for better early-warning systems, more urban green space, and social services and adaptation policies targeted at the people actually exposed to the risk — not just at rising temperatures generally.
Based on reporting by Haber Merkezi for İklimhaber. Read the original (Turkish): https://www.iklimhaber.org/tirmanan-sicakliklar-iklim-risklerini-derinlestiriyor-yasli-nufus-tehdit-altinda/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
