The toll is still provisional, but data collected across several European countries indicate that tens of thousands of people have died as a result of extreme heat.
More than 32,000 deaths have been attributed to the heatwaves that struck Europe between mid-June and mid-August. The figures, still provisional, were published by the European mortality monitoring platform (EuroMOMO). They are partial data: not only because they do not include the first heatwave, which hit the western part of the continent at the end of May, but above all because the statistical model used collects information from only 23 countries (excluding part of Eastern Europe).
An analysis by the AFP news agency, for example, examined data from eight countries — Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Austria and Portugal — while also including the month of May. The result already points to at least 33,000 excess deaths compared with the average for the period. In particular, the last week of June was the most dramatic, with 16,000 deaths concentrated in just seven days, followed by the first week of July, when 8,000 people lost their lives.
Overall, Germany — Europe’s most populous country, with 82 million inhabitants — paid the highest price, with around 14,000 deaths, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute.
In second place is France, with 7,300 deaths between May and 22 July (although in this case the official figures still do not include the month of August, during which another prolonged extreme heatwave occurred).
In Spain, according to AFP, deaths attributable to unbearable temperatures amount to almost 4,500 (between 1 June and 19 August). At the same time, according to Spain’s national weather agency AEMET, the month of July was the hottest ever recorded in the country (equal to July 2022).
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, located much farther north, the UK Health Security Agency estimated 2,877 deaths for the period between May and June alone. But with the “heart” of summer still missing from the calculation, the agency itself stated that the final overall toll could be “significantly higher”.
In Belgium, the national public health institute Sciensano has so far calculated only the deaths attributable to extreme heat recorded up to 17 July: 2,570 people died. In September, figures for the entire summer will also be published. Similarly, in the Netherlands, the still-partial data, updated only to 5 July, indicate almost 1,000 deaths. In Austria and Portugal — in the first case with data only up to June, and in the second up to the end of July — the figures stand at 400 and 600 deaths respectively.
As for Italy, there is not yet an official death toll, but according to the newspaper La Repubblica, citing data from the Ministry of Health, mortality among people aged over 85 increased by 8 per cent.
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