Heat stroke accounted for 13.6% of forces of nature deaths between 2016-20

The year 2020 accounted for the lowest number of heat stroke-related deaths

On Monday, Maharashtra’s health department said that the state had recorded over 374 cases of heatstroke in March and April. Moreover, the state had registered 25 deaths due to heatstroke—the highest in six years.

While a country-wise analysis is not available for the last two years, data from the ministry of statistics and programme implementation’s annual Envistats release shows that between 2016-2020, heatstroke accounted for 13.6 per cent of total deaths due to forces of nature. Of the 38,070 lives that the country lost due to forces of nature, heatstroke accounted for 5,159 of such deaths.

The year 2020 accounted