2024 was the warmest year since measurements began and several European countries were affected by prolonged heatwaves. Now, researchers from, among others, Spain and the Czech Republic have analyzed mortality rates during the summer months of 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The conclusion, which has been published in the journal Nature medicine, is that 62,774 people died from causes related to heat. The analysis is based on data from 539 million individuals in 32 European countries.
The figure is 24 percent higher than for the corresponding period in 2023, but 8 percent lower than in 2022 when around 67,000 people died as a result of causes linked to extreme heat.
The researchers also write that with well-functioning warning systems linked to weather forecasts, preventive measures can be taken. According to them, such heatwaves can often be predicted with a week's notice, which can be enough to take measures that could save lives.
Recently, another research study was released from Imperial College in London, which concludes that 16,500 of the total 24,000 deaths during the summer of 2025 are related to heatwaves caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.
The chain of causation from fossil fuels to increased heat and increased mortality is indisputable, says Friederike Otto, one of the report authors, to The Guardian.
