Humans exposed to wildfires have increased by 40 per cent in the past two decades, with climate change being responsible for a 54 per cent rise in extreme fire weather since 1979, according to a new study.

Population dynamics -- population growth and migration -- from 2002 to 2021 was found to account for 111.3 million exposures to wildfires, which forms 25.3 per cent of the world`s population exposed to wildfires over the past two decades.

Findings published in the journal Science also reveal that Africa accounted for nearly all of the increase in humans exposed to wildfires (85 per cent), with significant increases in the Americas and Asia.