• English
• Français
• Deutsch
• Pусский

Climate change and variability affect health in a variety of ways.

• In 2003, the WHO European Region suffered its strongest heat-wave ever. Over 70 000 excess deaths were reported from 12 European countries. The elderly are most at risk of death from heat-stroke and cardiovascular, renal, respiratory and metabolic disorders.
• In 2002, 15 major floods killed 250 people and affected 1 million. Projected climate-related increases in precipitation are likely to make floods more frequent and severe. Coastal flooding is likely to threaten up to 1.6 million more people every year in the European Union.
• Cases of salmonellosis rise by 5–10% for each 1 °C increase in weekly temperature, for ambient temperatures above about 5 °C.
• Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis have spread into higher latitudes (observed in Sweden) and altitudes (observed in the Czech Republic).
• The pollen season has expanded by an average of 10–11 days over the last 30 years.
• Air pollution causes and is worsened by climate change. Transport-related emissions of man-made greenhouse gases are projected to increase by about 50% in the European Union. Combustion of fuels in the power, transport and household sectors produces, besides carbon dioxide (CO2), a wide range of short-lived air pollutants with global warming and cooling effects. According to the latest statistics, they account, directly or indirectly, for a substantial proportion of global warming, and for the bulk of the direct damage to human health from global energy use.
• With climate change, food productivity is projected to decrease in the Mediterranean area, south-eastern Europe and central Asia, where food security is at risk. Crop yields could decrease by up to 30% in central Asia by the middle of the 21st century, thus threatening food security. This may lead to a worsening of malnutrition, especially among rural poor people.