A new global workers’ health indicator was launched in the 2023 Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change published in The Lancet.
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is an international academic collaboration, which annually takes stock of the evolving health impacts of climate change, and the health opportunities that climate action can deliver. The 2023 Report delivers a concerning health stocktake, with new global projections revealing the grave and mounting threat to health of further delayed action on climate change.
Added to this indicator system for the first time is an indicator of the number and percentage of outdoor workers. Outdoor workers are occupationally exposed to risk factors linked to climate change, such as ambient air pollution, heat, and solar ultraviolet radiation. According to the indicator, globally in 2022, an estimated 1.6 billion workers worked outdoors, or 26.4% of the population aged 15 years or older. The indicator shows that there are more outdoor workers in the WHO Regions of Africa, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific. Additionally, men and young or middle-age groups are overrepresented. This is the first global indicator of the population exposed to climatic risk factors in workplaces outdoors.
The 2023 Report of the Lancet Countdown with this new indicator was launched by speakers and a panel including Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of WHO, and Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director of Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at a virtual launch event on 15 November 2023.
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WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury
