Environment
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Study finds 61 percent of Indian children face extra heat
The Hindu BusinessLine··28 Aug
Research estimates 61 percent of children in India, or 145 million, face one extra heat-stress month yearly from climate change. Science Advances says under-nines facing five months of dangerous heat doubled from 59 million to 118 million. Globally, up to 560 million children aged 0-9 face one extra heat-stress month yearly. Lead author Rosa Pietroiusti is at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Parents of young children in tropical India are in the age band the study says already absorbs the largest added heat-stress months.
- Health systems dealing with heatstroke and dehydration see child exposure rising faster than for ages 60-69 in the same analysis.
- Housing without cooling leaves fewer practical buffers where humid heat limits sweating, the researchers note.
What's Happening
- The team says this is the first analysis linking climate-driven heat exposure across age groups globally.
- Humid heat is the focus because it blocks the body's ability to cool by sweating.
- Child exposure is nearly triple the 190 million people aged 60-69 facing an added month of heat stress.
What warmer pathways imply for India
- Under 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, 166 million Indian children, or 74 percent, could see at least one extra heat-stress month per year.
- At 2 degrees Celsius, the India figure rises to 169 million children, or 96 percent.
- South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Africa currently show the highest child counts for dangerous heat stress.
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