Mortality, temperature and public health provision: evidence from Mexico

Produced as part of the Climate information for adaptation CCCEP research programme theme

In this paper the authors examine the impact of temperature on mortality in Mexico using daily data over the period 1998–2017.

They find that weather shocks trigger 11 per cent of deaths in Mexico (75,000 every year). However, 89 per cent of weather-related deaths are induced by cold (<10°C) or mildly cold (10–20°C) days and only 1 per cent by outstandingly hot days (>32°C). Furthermore, temperatures are 60 per cent more likely to kill people in the bottom half of the income distribution.

Finally, the authors show causal evidence that the Seguro Popular, a universal healthcare policy, has saved 3,000 lives per year from cold weather (<20°C) since 2004.

An earlier version of this paper was published with the title ‘Mortality inequality, temperature and public health provision: evidence from Mexico’ in May 2017.