Extreme heat risks to pregnancy driven by climate change: India

2020 to 2024

We counted the number of days with temperatures warmer than 95% of temperatures observed at a given location (also referred to as temperatures above the 95th percentile) — a threshold which research1 shows can bring increased risk of preterm birth. We define these extremely hot days as “pregnancy heat-risk days.”

  • During the past five years, India experienced an average of six additional pregnancy heat-risk days each year.

  • Climate change accounted for nearly one-third of the average annual number of pregnancy heat-risk days in India during 2020 to 2024 (adding 6 of 19 days).

  • The city of Panaji (the capital of the state of Goa) experienced the most additional pregnancy heat-risk days each year (39) on average during the past five years (of all analyzed cities in India) — accounting for more than 90% of the city’s total.

  • While India as a whole has experienced a warming trend since the 1950s, a number of locations in the country experienced fewer pregnancy heat-risk days during 2020-2024 than they would have in a world without climate change. This may reflect local climate dynamics, limitations in the number and quality of temperature observations, or other factors beyond the scope of this analysis.

Explore data for states and union territories and cities across India in the interactive maps below.


States and union territories with the most pregnancy heat-risk days added by climate change




Cities with the most pregnancy heat-risk days added by climate change



1We chose this percentile based on peer-reviewed research from Kuehn et al. (2017), Wang et al. (2013), Wang et al. (2024), and McElroy et al. (2022).