Over 62,700 Deaths Associated with Record-breaking Heat During the Summer of 2024 in Europe

A study led by ISGlobal and published in Nature Medicine estimates that over 181,000 deaths were related to heat during the summers of 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The year 2024 broke several temperature records: it was the hottest ever recorded, and its summer was also the warmest to date. A study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a centre supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, has estimated that 62,775 heat-related deaths occurred in Europe between 1 June and 30 September of that year. These mortality figures are 23.6% higher than the approximately 50,800 estimated for the summer of 2023, and 8.1% lower than the nearly 67,900 estimated for the summer of 2022. These results have been published in Nature Medicine.

Italy and Spain, the countries with the highest number of deaths

The study focused on 654 regions in 32 European countries. The country with the highest number of heat-related deaths was Italy, with more than 19,000 estimated deaths in the summer of 2024. In the previous summers of 2023 and 2022, Italy was also the country with the highest heat-related mortality, with an estimated 13,800 and 18,800 deaths, respectively.

The country with the second highest estimated mortality in the summer of 2024 was Spain, with more than 6,700 deaths, followed by Germany (around 6,300), Greece (around 6,000) and Romania (more than 4,900). In the case of Spain, estimated deaths in 2024 were almost half those for 2022, due to lower summer temperatures than in the previous two years. In the case of Spain, estimated deaths in 2024 were almost half those for 2022, due to lower summer temperatures than in the previous two years.

Top 10 European countries with the highest estimated number of deaths

• Data from the 32 countries, here.
• You can continue reading the report here.

Source

Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) 2025