The crushing heat wave in Europe this summer has been linked to more than 50,000 deaths across the continent, analysis published in the British Medical Journal has found.
The death toll linked to the “excess heat” in urban areas in Europe this summer is the highest number on record, the research estimated.
Climate change, in particular, was responsible for two-thirds of the deaths, the report said, citing researchers from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Researchers estimate 50,391 heat-related deaths, far exceeding the next highest death toll of 29,480 in 2022 and 28,462 deaths in 2003.
“Europe experienced several heat waves this summer, with severe effects on human health recorded. Western Europe, which saw its hottest ever summer, was hit especially hard,” the report said.
Almost one-third of all heat-related deaths took place within a span of two weeks, from June 17 to July 1, it said. During this period, mean temperatures were more than 5°C above the 1991-2020 average.
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While the highest temperatures and highest estimated mortality were recorded in southern and western Europe, the report said “thousands of deaths were also estimated to have occurred in urban regions of typically cooler northern European countries such as the UK.”
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The death toll in England for the months of May and June were nearly double (2,900) the death during the same period in 2025 (1,504), according to the UK Health Security Agency.
“These numbers are a stark reminder that our hotter, more extreme summers are having an increasingly severe impact on public health,” Clair Barnes, extreme weather and climate change researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, said in the BMJ report.
Why would I believe a thing lefty EU tarts say?
Climate change has nothing to do with it. Stupid people, and even stupider governments that do not adapt are to blame. The climate has been changing since the earth began. IT IS THE HUMAN SPECIES THAT REFUSES TO ADAPT! STOP THE F*CKIN SCAM!
@ A commenter. And when they all freeze in the dark this winter we won’t hear a thing about it.
That is the problem with infill, pack millions of people into a small space instead of spreading them out with homes that have trees, a yard and space between the next house that keeps everything cooler.
Jaded Old Scrotum
That’s complete nonsense. Man made climate change is real and is costing lives.
Europe’s disastrous, self-destructive energy policy is to blame.
They got themselves hooked on Russian oil and gas, and even decommissioned nuclear power plants in the process. They shuttered other reliable baseload power plants too, and invested in nonsense green windfarms and solar instead. Then, they instigated armed conflict with Russia and conspired to destroy the Nordstream pipelines, shutting off the oil and gas….all so that they could tell people to shut off their AC to conserve energy, while Ursula von der lying kept it on for herself.
You couldn’t make up anything more absurd.
By the way, I thought people rave about healthcare, public benefits, etc., in Europe – was that all disinformation?
Actually, boneheaded govt policies and save-the-planet brainwashing are responsible. Heat waves are nothing new. Neither is air conditioning.
50K strategically replaced by third world garbage
People choosing not to turn on air conditioning that they already had, in favor of virtue signaling caused many more.
Good riddance to white inbreds