More than 47,000 people died in Europe due to scorching temperatures in 2023, with countries in the region’s south hit the hardest, according to a report by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) published on Monday.
Last year was the world’s hottest on record. As climate change continues to increase temperatures, Europeans live in the world’s fastest-warming continent, facing growing health risks stemming from intense heat.
In the past decade, only 2022 was deadlier, the annual report found, with more than 60,000 heat-related deaths.
Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study took in temperature and mortality records from 35 countries across the continent.
The authors highlighted that older people were most at risk, with countries in southern Europe worst affected by the heat.
Researchers used death and temperature records from 35 European countries. They estimate that 47,690 died from causes related to high temperatures.
Adjusting the data for population, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain were the countries with the highest mortality rates related to heat.
