Fact Check: Drop in climate-related disaster deaths not evidence against climate ‘emergency’

Published on November 6, 2023

Social media posts are recirculating a bar chart that depicts falling numbers of deaths due to weather-related disasters over the last century alongside comments suggesting that the significance of climate-driven weather changes is exaggerated.

Mortality, however, is not a useful measure of the number or severity of weather-related events including the floods, droughts, storms, wildfire, and extreme temperatures listed in the graph, experts told Reuters.

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