Uplifting mortality statistics

Indur Goklany has written a cheery article for the Cato Institute on death from extreme weather events in America. Despite the grim nature of the subject the ultimate conclusion is uplifting:

* Extreme cold is responsible for about half the deaths from weather-related events – about twice as many as extreme heat.

* Extreme weather accounts for a tiny proportion of the annual American death toll.

* The trend over time is for extreme weather to be responsible for an ever smaller proportion of deaths. That is despite any tendency towards global warming.

The more humanity advances economically the less vulnerable it becomes to extreme weather.