India among most-exposed nations as extreme heat escalates, Lancet Climate report warns

New Delhi: India has emerged as one of the hardest-hit nations globally for heatwave exposure among its most vulnerable populations — infants and older adults—alongside China, the US, and Russia.

The findings, published in the tenth indicator report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, reveal that while global heatwave exposure dipped slightly in 2025 from 2024’s historical high, it still marked the second-worst year on record. Globally, older adults endured an average of 12.8 heatwave days per person in 2025, while infants experienced 8.7 days.

Researchers led by University College London warn that international climate measures are dangerously failing to keep pace with global warming.

Heat-related health impacts have accelerated significantly in the decade following the 2016 Paris Agreement. In 2023 alone—the hottest year on record—extreme heat was linked to an estimated 710,000 deaths worldwide, exceeding fatalities from malaria or HIV, with human-caused climate change driving over 71% of those deaths.

Over the 2016–2023 period, climate change contributed to nearly 3 million heat-related deaths.

“Our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world’s response to them, and in many cases even accelerating,” said Dr Marina Romanello, Executive Director of the Lancet Countdown.

A decade after the Paris climate treaty, report authors are calling on world leaders to formally declare climate change a global health emergency.