India among top countries with highest heatwave exposure for infants, older adults: Report

India has been identified as one of the leading nations with the greatest heatwave exposure for two particularly vulnerable groups — infants and older adults — according to a recent report. This finding comes from the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change's tenth indicator report. The report highlights a concerning trend, with global heatwave days decreasing from the 2024 high of 15.3 billion person-days for older adults and 2.3 billion person-days for infants.

In 2025, the combined heatwave exposure for these two groups reached an alarming 11.9 billion person-days. Normalized by population size, older adults experienced an average of 12.8 heatwave days per individual, while infants faced an average of 8.7 heatwave days per individual. The report's authors, led by researchers from the University College London in the U.K., emphasize that while climate action has been improving globally, it is not keeping pace with the rapid pace of global warming.

They are urging for climate change to be declared a global health emergency, the establishment of a new WHO instrument for coordinated global response, and for health to be prioritized in all climate-related decisions. The report also underscores the severe impact of heatwaves, estimating that climate change caused nearly 3 million heat deaths between 2016 and 2023, surpassing the deaths caused by malaria or HIV.

In 2023 alone, heat was linked to over 700,000 estimated deaths, with 71.5% driven by climate change, accounting for the highest number of heat-related deaths on record.