Most of what I've learned and is worth knowing is from sample size of N=1. Doesn't make it that much less applicable.

My bet is this will be reversed at some point.

I get that the metric dictating this is probably "avoid skin damage", but surely the health benefits of, say, 15 minutes of sun exposure dramatically overweighs the risk of skin cancer.

It's counterintuitive; people need sunlight to generate vitamin D, but it also causes cancer. People in both the middle-east and the north are often vit-D deficient because of a lack of sunlight exposure, in the north because there not being a lot of sunlight, in the warm/dry climates because they dress and live for the weather which means not a lot of skin is exposed.