One in Three People Will Live in Dangerously Hot Areas by 2080
- India, Nigeria and Indonesia will see the most people affected
- Researchers based projection on 2.7C increase in temperature
Men pray in the shade in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A third of the global population will be living in dangerously hot conditions by 2080 if the world continues on its current trajectory and entire countries in West Africa and the Persian Gulf will fall into the extreme heat zone, a new study has found.
Average global temperatures are on track to rise 2.7C in the last two decades of the century, according to researchers from Exeter University’s Global Systems Institute. They defined dangerously hot areas, or areas falling outside the so-called human niche, as having a mean annual temperature above 29C.