Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn
New research indicates that extreme heat caused 50,000 deaths in European cities this summer, with scientists attributing two-thirds of these fatalities to climate change. The study highlights that vulnerable populations in countries like Italy, Malta, and Hungary were disproportionately affected.
Why it matters
This data underscores the escalating public health crisis driven by anthropogenic climate change and the urgent need for urban adaptation strategies.
Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Extreme heat Heat killed ‘staggering’ 50,000 people in Europe’s cities this summer, scientists warn People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll
Prefer the Guardian on Google Heat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.
Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering.
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