Europe's summer heat is estimated to have caused more than 50,000 excess deaths in urban areas between June and August 2026, the highest on record, according to a new study reported by Euronews. The previous highs for the area modelled were about 29,000 deaths in 2022 and 28,000 in 2003.
The researchers attribute 65% of the heat-related excess deaths, about 32,000, to human-caused climate change, mainly from burning fossil fuels; earlier in the century the share was estimated at about 40%. A succession of heatwaves pushed temperatures in Western Europe 2.9°C above the 1991-2020 average, and by as much as 12°C on some days. Nearly a third of the estimated deaths came in the heatwave of 17 June to 1 July, when temperatures averaged 5.3°C above normal.
The study modelled 854 urban areas across the EU, the UK, Norway and Switzerland, home to about 40% of the population of the 30 countries covered, using temperature records and the historical relationship between heat and mortality, adjusted for geography, socioeconomic factors, health services and age. A separate attribution study of the summers of 2000 to 2025 gave results broadly consistent with official statistics; many countries have yet to publish final figures for 2026.
"These numbers are a stark reminder that our hotter, more extreme summers are having an increasingly severe impact on public health," said co-author Dr Clair Barnes of Imperial College London. Co-author Dr Malcolm Mistry of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said heat deaths are not directly observed and are often under-reported, which is why heat is called a "silent killer".
The most exposed are people with illnesses, the elderly, the very young, and those who cannot move away from the heat for physical or economic reasons. The authors call for targeted protection for the vulnerable and a rapid move away from fossil fuels. The report is by Angela Symons.
Source: Euronews
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