Global warming has saved 500,000 lives in England and Wales in the last 20 years
Office of National Statistics, 17 January 2022
Climate-related mortality and hospital admissions, England and Wales: 2001 to 2020
[…] Over a 20-year period the estimated change in deaths associated with warm or cold temperature was a net decrease of 555,103, an average of 27,755 deaths per year (Table 1). A decrease in deaths from outcomes associated with cold temperature greatly outnumbers deaths associated with warm temperature.
Warmer weather in the UK rarely reaches temperatures that cause direct heat-related harms. While the reduction in deaths may relate to climate change, some evidence also suggests the population has reduced vulnerability to cold, see more detail in the Discussion section.
Figures for England and Wales separately are included in the Datasets.
