Extreme Heat Linked to Over 16,000 Excess Deaths Across Europe This Summer
Europe experienced its fourth hottest summer on record, with temperatures rising by 1.5°C to 2.9°C above the norm due to anthropogenic warming, according to recent findings. This heatwave, which peaked in the summer of 2025, has been linked to a significant number of heat-related deaths across the continent.
A rapid-analysis study by researchers at Imperial College London (ICL) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated that 24,400 people died from heat-related causes between June and August 2025, across 854 European cities and urban centers.
Rome, Athens, and Bucharest saw the highest heat-related death rates per capita among European capital cities. Tragically, people over 64 made up 85% of these climate-related deaths.
The study, which used historical Eurostat data and information on which days exceeded minimum mortality temperature, found that climate change was responsible for 68% of these heat-related deaths. Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, a biostatistician at ICL's Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment, stated that the deaths could have tripled without climate change.
The urban heat island effect, where concrete surfaces trap heat and raise city temperatures, exacerbated the heatwave's impact. Spain experienced its most intense heatwave in history in August 2025, while Finland saw an unprecedented three straight weeks of 30°C heat. Even Türkiye recorded its highest temperature ever, a scorching 50.5°C (122.9°F).
The study did not consider cities' efforts to adapt to climate change, all adverse health effects of heat, or changes to baseline populations that occurred post-COVID-19. Despite these limitations, Chris Callahan, a climate scientist at Indiana University Bloomington, found the study's methods to be "standard and based on extensive peer-reviewed research."
Clair Barnes, a statistician at ICL's Centre for Environmental Policy, emphasised that the growing toll warming is taking on human health is not unique to Europe. The findings serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address climate change and its devastating effects on our planet and its inhabitants.
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