Weather shocks, climate change and human health

Daniel Meierrieks

World Development, 2021, vol. 138, issue C

Abstract: We examine the effect of short-run weather shocks and long-run climate change on a variety of national health outcomes for a sample of 170 countries between 1960 and 2016. We find that changing climate conditions – especially in the form of increasing temperatures – lead to health losses (e.g., increased infant mortality and lower life expectancy) both in the short and long run. The adverse effect of increasing temperatures is much more strongly felt in relatively poor countries, indicating that these countries are more vulnerable. Predicted health losses in poor countries due to weather shocks and climate change have already been substantial. Future health losses especially in less developed countries will likely also be considerable unless adequate adaptation and mitigation efforts are undertaken.

Keywords: Climate change; Human health; Developing countries; Sub-Saharan Africa; Adaptation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I15 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20303557
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:138:y:2021:i:c:s0305750x20303557

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105228

Access Statistics for this article

World Development is currently edited by O. T. Coomes

More articles in World Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().