How Climate Change Is Putting Pregnant Women at Greater Risk

A Growing Global Concern for Maternal and Newborn Health

A pregnant woman in the late pregnancy stage sitting on the grass lawn

A 2021 study found that exposure to extreme heat during the last trimester of pregnancy increased the risk of stillbirth by 46%. In the U.S., around 25,000 preterm births annually are linked to air pollution and heat exposure, disproportionately affecting communities of color.Representative Image: FreePik

Published on:

21 May 2025, 11:35 am

As temperatures rise worldwide, so do dangers to pregnant women and newborns. A recent analysis conducted by Climate Central, a nonpartisan and well-respected research group, makes clear how climate change is leading to a perilous surge in the number of hot days threatening expectant mothers worldwide.

What the study finds.

Between 2020 and 2024, scientists examined 247 nations and territories based on daily temperature. Their mission: to measure "pregnancy heat risk days," days when temperatures are greater than 95 percent for the region, which are highly unsafe for pregnant women.

The results from the study are sobering. In about 90 percent of the world's countries, the number of days of extremely hot weather has at least doubled due to global warming. And even more concerning, in about a third of countries, the increase in such high-risk days adds up to an extra month or more of exposure to heat annually.

Dangerous Heat, Dangerous Consequences

Why is it such a big thing? Pregnancy heat isn't just unpleasant, it's dangerous. Research has repeatedly shown that excessive heat can increase the risks of:

Preterm delivery
High blood pressure and gestational diabetes
Still birth
Critical maternal medical conditions

Hospitalization during pregnancy

In some of the hardest-affected countries, every single pregnancy heat risk day between 2020 and 2024 is a direct result of climate change. There are many developing regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and the small island states.

Flat summer heat illustration with a woman and thermometer

In India, heatwaves caused a 60% rise in maternal hospitalizations during summer months, particularly among women in rural areas without air conditioning (Lancet Planetary Health, 2022)Representative Image: FreePik

Who is at greatest risk?

Most vulnerable communities are being hardest affected. Least-developed countries, while producing the least greenhouse gas emissions, are worst affected by increasing exposure to deadly heat. This inequality exacerbates health inequities and puts millions of mothers and children at risk.

Action is long overdue.

Climate Center vice president for science Dr. Kristina Dahl stressed that a single day of record heat can lead to serious complications. And to women's health doctor Dr. Bruce Bekkar, resolving the crisis involves dealing with its cause: fossil fuel pollution.

Extreme heat is now one of the most pressing threats to pregnant people worldwide, pushing more pregnancies into high-risk territory, especially in places already struggling with limited healthcare access

Bruce Bekkar, Women's Health Physician (who reviewed the analysis)

Climate Central. Climate Change Increasing Pregnancy Risks Around the World Due to Extreme Heat (2020–2024). May 14, 2025. https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/4XB8ACtuuQBlUaIQoyi0AE/e45c4ebbbc14f460b48a7b12b58045e4/Climate_change_increasing_pregnancy_risks_around_the_world_due_to_extreme_heat__2020-2024_.pdf.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal Arshad/MSM)

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How Climate Change Is Putting Pregnant Women at Greater Risk

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