Many People Die From Chilly Weather In Mexico

Weather that is far less than freezing causes many deaths in Mexico, mostly among poor people. 

Twelve degrees Celsius is 54 degrees Fahrenheit and twenty degrees Celsius is 68 degrees Fahrenheit (basically room temperature), while thirty-two degrees Celsius is about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

We examine the impact of temperature on mortality in Mexico using daily data over the period 1998–2017 and find that 3.8 percent of deaths in Mexico are caused by suboptimal temperature (26,000 every year). However, 92 percent of weather-related deaths are induced by cold (<12 degrees C) or mildly cold (12–20 degrees C) days and only 2 percent by outstandingly hot days (>32 degrees C). Furthermore, temperatures are twice as likely to kill people in the bottom half of the income distribution. Finally, we show causal evidence that the Seguro Popular, a universal health care policy, has saved at least 1,600 lives per year from cold weather since 2004.

From a new paper in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, by François Cohen and Antoine Dechezleprêtre.