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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/14/heat-exposure-of-older-people-across-the-world-to-double-by-2050-finds-study>
"The heat exposure of older people will at least double in all continents by
2050, according to a study that highlights the combined risk posed by a heating
world and an ageing population.
Compared with today, there will be up to an extra 250 million people aged 69 or
above who are exposed to dangerous levels of heat, defined as 37.5C. The paper
warned this is likely to create biological and social vulnerability hotspots
with increasing concentrations of older adults and high temperature extremes.
The impact on health systems and global inequality will be huge, the paper
published in
Nature Communications warned, because older people are more
vulnerable to high temperatures and the populations that will be worst affected
tend to be in the hotter, poorer global south.
The global population is ageing at an unprecedented pace. By mid-century, the
number of people aged 60 or above is forecast to double to 2.1 billion, which
will be more than one in every five people on the planet. “Two-thirds of them
will live in low- and middle-income countries where extreme climate events are
especially likely,” the paper predicted.
In most continents, there is a noticeable north-south divide with the hotter,
poorer southern hemisphere affected more severely than the cooler, richer
northern hemisphere.
In terms of total population, Asia will experience levels of older adult heat
exposure nearly four times higher than other regions due both to its large
population and hot climate. But every region will see enormous increases.
Compared with today, exposure will rise threefold in South America and Europe
by 2050, and nearly double in Oceania, North America and Africa.
The ageing trends are most pronounced in Europe, where a quarter of people will
be over 69 years old by 2050, and North America, where a fifth are in this
bracket. But in terms of absolute numbers, Asia and Africa will see greater
increases because their populations are far bigger. These continents are also
hotter and poorer so they will face considerably greater burdens."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
