⚠️ Unconfirmedenvironmental2023

Population living in areas with at least one month of extreme heat (daily maximum heat index ≥ 40°C)

Share of people living where the heat index reached ≥40°C on at least 30 days in 2023, based on global reanalysis and population data.

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Key Insights

Global Average
15.4%
0
Countries Covered
174
with available data
Highest
Maldives
98.7%
Lowest
Brunei Darussalam
0.0%
Top 5 Countries
1Maldives98.7%
2India83.9%
3Mauritius83.2%
4Lao People's Democratic Republic79.5%
5Thailand78.8%
By Region
Asia26.5%(25 countries)
Other19.1%(97 countries)
Africa16.2%(9 countries)
North America5.1%(4 countries)
South America0.4%(7 countries)
Key Findings
  • Humid tropical countries show the highest exposure shares, with some small island states approaching near-total population exposure.
  • Large South and Southeast Asian populations drive high exposure shares even when national averages mask subnational extremes.
  • Many temperate and high-latitude countries show near-zero exposure under the ≥30-days HI≥40°C criterion, highlighting strong geographic concentration of heat stress.

Country Rankings

Top 10 Countries

Bottom 10 Countries

Data Analysis

Value Distribution

How countries are distributed across the value range

Low (0.0%)High (98.7%)

Regional Comparison

Average values by world region (Global avg: 15.4%)

Asia (25)
Other (97)
Africa (9)
North America (4)
South America (7)
Europe (30)
Oceania (2)

About This Statistic

This statistic estimates the share of each country’s population living in grid cells that experienced at least 30 days in 2023 where the daily maximum heat index (a measure combining temperature and humidity) reached 40°C or higher. It captures dangerous “feels-like” heat that increases risks of heat stress, especially for outdoor workers, older adults, and people without access to cooling.

The indicator is derived by overlaying a global gridded heat-index dataset (computed from meteorological reanalysis) with gridded population counts, then aggregating to national borders. Because it is exposure-based (population-weighted) rather than station-based, it better reflects where people actually live—highlighting that humid tropical and subtropical regions can experience high heat stress even when air temperatures are not the world’s highest.

Full Data

Rank Country Value
1Maldives98.7%
2India83.9%
3Mauritius83.2%
4Lao People's Democratic Republic79.5%
5Thailand78.8%
6Indonesia77.2%
7Republic of The Gambia76.8%
8Philippines76.1%
9Vanuatu74.4%
10Malaysia72.6%
11Sri Lanka71.8%
12Somalia71.2%
13Vietnam68.3%
14Benin66.5%
15Madagascar65.7%
16Nigeria63.6%
17Cambodia62.4%
18Central African Republic61.3%
19Togo58.9%
20Democratic Republic of the Congo58.4%
21Papua New Guinea58.0%
22Singapore57.9%
23Ghana57.6%
24Malawi56.8%
25Burundi55.1%
26Cote d'Ivoire52.3%
27Timor-Leste49.6%
28Republic of the Congo49.2%
29Sierra Leone46.2%
30Mozambique44.9%
31Myanmar42.5%
32Liberia42.1%
33Mali41.9%
34Eswatini41.2%
35Cameroon39.8%
36Burkina Faso37.3%
37Gabon36.9%
38Guinea34.7%
39Pakistan33.7%
40Panama32.8%
41United Republic of Tanzania32.2%
42South Sudan29.1%
43Chad28.6%
44Uganda22.7%
45Niger22.5%
46Djibouti21.4%
47Zambia19.6%
48Islamic Republic of Iran18.9%
49Guatemala18.2%
50Rwanda16.4%
51Kenya13.8%
52Eritrea12.6%
53Guyana12.4%
54Iraq9.6%
55Ethiopia8.2%
56Senegal6.8%
57People's Republic of China4.7%
58Mauritania4.1%
59Sudan3.4%
60Brazil3.1%
61Kuwait2.7%
62United Arab Emirates2.2%
63Mexico2.1%
64Egypt2.0%
65Qatar1.9%
66Oman1.4%
67Bahrain1.2%
68Saudi Arabia1.1%
69Libya0.6%
70Morocco0.2%
71Tunisia0.2%
72Israel0.1%
73Algeria0.1%
74Bulgaria0.0%
75Belarus0.0%
76Canada0.0%
77Cape Verde0.0%
78Cayman Islands0.0%
79Chile0.0%
80Colombia0.0%
81Comoros0.0%
82Costa Rica0.0%
83Croatia0.0%
84Cuba0.0%
85Cyprus0.0%
86Czech Republic0.0%
87Denmark0.0%
88Dominican Republic0.0%
89Ecuador0.0%
90El Salvador0.0%
91Equatorial Guinea0.0%
92Estonia0.0%
93Faroe Islands0.0%
94Fiji0.0%
95Finland0.0%
96France0.0%
97Georgia0.0%
98Greece0.0%
99Haiti0.0%
100Honduras0.0%
101Hungary0.0%
102Iceland0.0%
103Ireland0.0%
104Italy0.0%
105Jamaica0.0%
106Japan0.0%
107Kazakhstan0.0%
108Jordan0.0%
109North Korea0.0%
110South Korea0.0%
111Kyrgyzstan0.0%
112Lebanon0.0%
113Lesotho0.0%
114Latvia0.0%
115Lithuania0.0%
116Luxembourg0.0%
117Mongolia0.0%
118Moldova, Republic of0.0%
119Montenegro0.0%
120Namibia0.0%
121Nepal0.0%
122Netherlands0.0%
123New Caledonia0.0%
124New Zealand0.0%
125Nicaragua0.0%
126Norway0.0%
127Paraguay0.0%
128Peru0.0%
129Poland0.0%
130Portugal0.0%
131Guinea-Bissau0.0%
132Romania0.0%
133Russian Federation0.0%
134Serbia0.0%
135Seychelles0.0%
136Slovakia0.0%
137South Africa0.0%
138Zimbabwe0.0%
139Spain0.0%
140Suriname0.0%
141Sweden0.0%
142Switzerland0.0%
143Syrian Arab Republic0.0%
144Tajikistan0.0%
145Trinidad and Tobago0.0%
146Türkiye0.0%
147Turkmenistan0.0%
148Ukraine0.0%
149United Kingdom0.0%
150United States of America0.0%
151Uruguay0.0%
152Uzbekistan0.0%
153Venezuela0.0%
154Samoa0.0%
155Yemen0.0%
156Afghanistan0.0%
157Albania0.0%
158Angola0.0%
159Argentina0.0%
160Australia0.0%
161Austria0.0%
162Bahamas0.0%
163Bangladesh0.0%
164Armenia0.0%
165Barbados0.0%
166Belgium0.0%
167Bermuda0.0%
168Bhutan0.0%
169Bolivia0.0%
170Bosnia and Herzegovina0.0%
171Botswana0.0%
172Belize0.0%
173Solomon Islands0.0%
174Brunei Darussalam0.0%
Showing 174 of 174 countries

Topics

Data Source

This data comes from Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) ERA5 reanalysis; WorldPop (2023).

View Original Source