根據加州大學兩位經濟學家所共同進行的研究顯示,持續數周之久的嚴寒天氣導致了美國本土死亡率的攀升,平均每天360人、每年1萬4380人因而死亡。
研究報告中並指出,嚴寒天氣所導致的死亡率,佔美國年度死亡率的0.8%,比率超過因血癌、謀殺與慢性肝病死亡率的總和。
嚴寒天氣導致的死因,在近十幾年來降低了美國民眾的平均壽命期望值。
加州大學柏克萊校區的經濟系助理教授莫瑞第(Enrico Moretti)表示,嚴寒天氣引起的死亡人數「非常的多」;此外,加州大學聖塔芭芭拉(Santa Barbara)校區的經濟系助理教授德軒尼斯(Oliver Deschenes)在其2007年12月發表的著作中表示,「極端天氣型態與死亡率及移民人數相關。」
依據前述2位助理教授所提出的報告顯示,全美因嚴寒天氣導致死亡率偏高的城市,包括了芝加哥、底特律、明尼阿波里斯、與克里夫蘭。
報告中估計,若上述城市的民眾減少暴露在極度嚴寒天氣中的機會,可望降低其3.2%的年度平均死亡率。
Fatalities in the continental United States tend to climb for several weeks after severe cold spells, numbering 360 per day and 14,380 per year, according to a new study co-authored by two University of California economists.
Deaths linked to extreme cold account for 0.8 percent of the nation's annual death rate and outnumber those attributed to leukemia, murder and chronic liver disease combined, the study reports.
Cold-related deaths reduce the average life expectancy of Americans by at least a decade, it says.
The numbers are "remarkably large," said Enrico Moretti, a UC Berkeley associate professor of economics, and Oliver Deschenes, an associate professor of economics at UC Santa Barbara, in a December 2007 working paper, "Extreme Weather Events, Mortality and Migration."
Cities recording the biggest numbers of cold weather-related deaths include Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and Cleveland, according to Moretti and Deschenes.
They estimate that up to 3.2 percent of the annual deaths in those cities could be delayed if people reduced their exposure to extremely cold weather.
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