Newsletters
Heat waves that struck Europe this summer are estimated to have killed more than 50,000 people in urban areas, and researchers attribute two-thirds of those deaths to climate change.
Scientists from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine examined how extreme heat affected mortality in 854 urban areas across 30 countries. The countries include the 27 members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland, and the areas studied are home to about 40% of their combined population.
Using temperature records and models based on the historical relationship between temperature and death rates, the researchers estimated excess heat-related deaths in each urban area for summers between 2000 and 2026. The method produced results consistent with official heat-related mortality statistics that national health authorities later published.
Based on the estimates, more than 50,000 people died because of the heat in the countries studied this summer. Two-thirds of those deaths are linked to climate change driven by the use of fossil fuels.
The 2026 toll is the highest on record since 2000. Heat caused an estimated 29,000 deaths in 2022 and 28,000 in 2003.
About one-third of the deaths occurred between June 17 and July 1. During that period, average daily temperatures across the region exceeded the 1991-2020 average by more than 5 degrees Celsius.
Cities in Southern and Western Europe, which recorded the highest temperatures and the most deaths, were among the hardest hit. In urban areas of generally cooler Northern European countries such as the United Kingdom, about 4,500 people are estimated to have died because of heat.
Heat-related deaths mainly affect older people, but the analysis estimates that about 6,000 people under 65 died because of the heat this summer in the urban areas analyzed.
The season featured consecutive heat waves, particularly in Western Europe, with serious public health impacts. Western Europe had the highest temperature anomaly. Across the summer, temperatures averaged about 2.9 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, and on some days the gap reached 12 degrees Celsius.
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
6 min read
