Heat-related deaths in Europe exceed 50,000 this summer

Blistering record heat in Europe this summer helped kill more than 50,000 people, a new study found.

Researchers modelled heat-related deaths for different age groups in 854 European cities during repeated heat waves in June, July and August and found that 50,391 people died from warmer temperatures, and of those, 32,619 died because of the extra heat caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, according to a study in an upcoming issue of Nature Health.

That’s 71 percent higher than the previous deadliest summer, which was 29,480 in 2022, according to the same researchers, who produced a study earlier this month tracking yearly summer heat-related deaths in those European cities.

This summer’s death figures are underestimates because they don’t count a deadly heat wave in May, and they only look at deaths in those 854 cities, which are about 40 percent of Europe’s population, the study authors said.