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The heat caused more than 47,000 deaths in Europe in 2023

by AI | 13.Aug 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The heat caused more than 47,000 deaths in Europe during 2023, the “warmest year on record globally and the second in Europe.”

People next to a thermometer on the streets of the Andalusian capital at 47 degrees temperature, on July 24, 2024, in Seville, Andalusia (Spain). Photo: Francisco J. Olmo / Europa Press

Barcelona – The heat caused more than 47,000 deaths in Europe in 2023 and Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain were some of the most affected countries, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), a center supported by the La Caixa Foundation.

The research, published in ‘Nature Medicine’, is based on temperature and mortality records from 823 regions in 35 European countries, and it asserts that 2023 was the “hottest year recorded globally and the second in Europe.” 

The study estimates a total of 47,690 deaths due to high temperatures, of which 47,312 occurred between May 29 and October 1, the “hottest” period of the year.

The results identify Southern European countries as the “most affected,” as they show the highest heat-related mortality rates: Greece (393 deaths per million inhabitants), Bulgaria (229), Italy (209), Spain (175), Cyprus (167), and Portugal (136).

ISGlobal conducted a similar study in 2022, which estimated over 60,000 deaths due to heat during the summer of 2022, and in the 2023 report, it also aimed to assess whether there has been a “decrease in heat vulnerability” in Europe, a process that refers to adaptation to rising temperatures.

Researchers have calculated that if the temperatures recorded in 2023 had occurred between 2000-2004, the estimated heat-related mortality would have surpassed 85,000 deaths, representing an 80% higher vulnerability to heat between 2015-2019.

ISGlobal researcher Elisa Gallo explained that these data show how society has undergone adaptation processes to high temperatures during the current century, “which have drastically reduced heat vulnerability and mortality burden in recent summers.”

Gallo attributes the decrease in heat vulnerability to “general socioeconomic progress, improvements in individual behavior, and public health measures, such as the heat prevention plans implemented after the record-breaking summer of 2003.”

The study also warns that women and those over 80 years of age represent the population with the greatest heat vulnerability, specifying that, in 2023, the heat-related mortality rate was 55% higher in women than in men, and 768% higher in those over 80 than in people aged 65 to 79. (August 12)