More than 2,300 people have died in Europe in just 10 days due to heat waves. Researchers attribute most of the deaths to climate change.
During the heat wave that swept Western Europe in late June, about 2,300 temperature-related deaths were recorded in 12 major cities.
This was reported by Reuters, citing a rapid study conducted by scientists from Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
The study covers a 10-day period ending July 2, during which temperatures exceeded 40°C in parts of Spain, massive forest fires broke out in France and “very severe heat stress” was recorded in many regions.
Scientists estimate that 1,500 of these 2,300 deaths are due to the impact of climate change, which has made the heat wave more intense. In particular, in the cities studied, including London, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, the temperature due to climate change has increased by 4°C compared to what it would have been without global warming.
The researchers used proven epidemiological models and historical mortality data to account for deaths where heat may have been the underlying cause or a factor that worsened existing conditions.
The researchers note that most heatstroke deaths are not officially recorded, and some governments do not publish such statistics at all. That is why the results are preliminary, but based on peer-reviewed scientific methods.
June 2025 was the third hottest month on record globally, after June 2023 and 2024, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. In Western Europe, it was the warmest month on record, with temperatures in many regions feeling like they were over 38°C, which is classified as “very severe heat stress.”
Samantha Burgess, a spokesperson for the Copernicus programme, warned that heat waves in Europe would become more frequent, more intense and affect more people as global warming progresses.
Recall that in 2023, scientists said that up to 61,000 people could die in Europe during the 2022 heat wave. This indicates that measures to adapt to extreme temperatures are insufficient at the government level.
The main cause of warming remains the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels. This leads to higher baseline temperatures and, accordingly, makes heat waves more dangerous to human health.
Let us recall that due to the heat, Switzerland, which rarely experiences such weather phenomena, was forced to shut down one of the power units of the nuclear power plant due to overheating of the water used to cool the reactors.
However, these hellish records did not reach Ukraine. And although fires raged here too – in Mykolaiv region. But according to weather forecasters, rains will soon begin again.
