The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, collected the most important reports since the 1980s on heat waves and hotspots around the world. This is to see which weather conditions are most dangerous to human health.

– The combination of high temperatures and high humidity is especially dangerous, says Elisabet Lindgren, physician and associate professor of sustainability science.

The combination is dangerous because it is then difficult for the body to cool down.

Already alive today 30 percent of the world’s population lives in areas regularly exposed to dangerous heat. This figure will rise to 50 percent if the EU meets its climate target for the next century. On the other hand, it could rise to almost 80 percent if greenhouse gas emissions continue as they are now, the researchers say.

In Sweden yes we probably do not experience such high temperatures as in tropical leather or in the Mediterranean. But there is still a risk that the warmer climate will increase the number of heat-related deaths in Sweden too.

This depends on that we can get very high indoor temperatures. Our homes are built to retain heat in the winter, which is not an advantage when temperatures rise.

– We need to make sure we have better ventilation and more shade so that it doesn’t get so hot indoors, says Elisabet Lindgren.

Susanna Hestreus
[email protected]

Reference: Mora et al. “Global risk of deadly heat”, published June 19, 2017 in Nature Climate Change, doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE3322