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Extreme temperatures and climate events in 2023 will also have extreme impacts on public health around the world. An international team of scientists summarized it in a new article edition Lancet Countdown series, which annually assesses the impact of climate change on global health.

One of the most talked about conclusions in this year’s report was the dramatic increase in drought.

The authors state, among other things, that last year 48% of land areas were affected by extreme drought for at least one month. In the 1980s, the average figure was around 15%.

30% of the world’s population has experienced extreme drought for at least three months, compared with an average of just five percent 40 years ago.

At the same time, the increasing problem of drought is not just an extreme fluctuation in the past year, but is a long-term trend.

According to the author, this disease mostly attacks South America, Middle East Africa (Horn of Africa).

Scientists also show that due to changes in the distribution of rainfall, the number of extreme rainfall events is increasing.

This large and rapid amount of rainfall (often at the expense of lower intensity and more frequent rainfall) has increased in the last ten years compared with the period 1961–⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1990 to reach 61% of the world’s territory.

People also faced health-threatening high temperature days in unprecedented numbers last year, according to the report. According to the authors’ estimates, there are 50 more per year than if climate warming due to human activity had not occurred.

This is also reflected in the number of deaths due to hot weather. The report states that last year there were 167% more people in the most at-risk group aged over 65 than in the 1990s, and rising temperatures accounted for much of the increase.

Changes in the age composition of the population are also one of the signs, but according to scientists, this effect can only increase the number of deaths by around 65%.

The heat also caused a six percent drop in sleep last year compared to the period 1986 to 2005, according to the report.

Warmer and drier weather is also contributing to an increase in the number of sandstorms, according to the authors. Life-threatening tropical diseases such as malaria, West Nile and dengue fever continue to enter new areas due to climate change, according to the report.

Positive conclusions include a reduction in the number of deaths due to air pollution. The authors also highlight the success of continued investment in renewable energy sources, which are increasingly replacing fossil fuels.

At the same time, they point out that greenhouse gas emissions are not decreasing overall and reached new records last year, which needs to change.

“We are experiencing another record-breaking year of extreme heat and other extreme weather events. No person or economy in the world is immune to the health impacts of climate change. The continued growth of fossil fuels and record greenhouse gas emissions only exacerbate these dangerous impacts.” he commented project director Marina Romanello of University College London reports.