India lost 259 bn hours of labour annually because of global warming

Productive hours lost to heat and humidity globally are about 400 billion hours greater than previous estimates, roughly the same as the amount of work hours lost during the Covid-19 pandemic

India lost around 259 billion hours of labour annually between 2001 and 2020 due to the impacts of humid heat, according to a study from researchers at Duke University. The loss of these productive hours cost India $624 billion (Rs 46 lakh crore)–equivalent to almost 7% of its 2017 gross domestic product (GDP). 

The authors use the term 'humid heat' to refer to conditions that are either hot and dry or hot and humid enough to cause decreases in labor productivity. 

Globally, humid heat caused 677 billion hours of lost labour each year, worth $2.1 trillion (Rs 156 lakh crore).