According to an estimate, more than 50,000 people have lost their lives this summer as a result of record temperatures. The June of 2026 was particularly deadly.
The hot summer of 2026 in Europe cost the lives of around 50,000 people, according to estimates by British researchers, making it the deadliest summer on record to date. Almost two-thirds of the victims (65 percent), according to the researchers, are directly linked to climate change.
For the study, researchers from the Imperial Grantham Institute in Britain and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine measured the excess mortality caused by high temperatures.
The study used data from 854 urban areas in the 27 member states of the European Union, as well as from Great Britain, Norway and Switzerland. The analyzed regions are home to around 40 percent of the total population of these 30 countries.
16,000 heat-related deaths in Germany
For comparison, in the hottest years recorded so far, around 29,000 people died from heat in 2022, and around 28,000 in 2003. The hardest-hit countries were in Southern and Western Europe. However, even in traditionally cooler countries, thousands of deaths were recorded. For Great Britain, the researchers estimate around 4,500 deaths linked to high temperatures.
For Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin also published similar figures in mid-September. According to them, around 16,000 people died from heat in Germany this summer alone.
According to the British researchers, June 2026 had particularly dramatic consequences in Europe. By their estimates, almost one-third of all heat-related deaths were recorded in the period from June 17 to July 1.
During this time, temperatures were on average five degrees Celsius higher than the average of the 1991-2020 reference period. This extraordinary heat wave is considered one of the main factors that made the summer of 2026 the deadliest summer for heat in Europe since records began.
It wasn’t only the elderly who died
“We can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that the summer of 2026 was the most severe since records began in terms of heat-related mortality in large parts of Europe,” said Clair Barnes, a researcher of extreme weather and climate change at Imperial College. “Behind these statistics are the faces of people who have lost their lives and families mourning their loss,” she added.
According to the researchers, the effects of the heat did not affect only the elderly. They estimate that around 6,000 of the 50,000 heat victims were under the age of 65.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that our cities are unprepared for rising temperatures, and it is crucial that we strengthen efforts to adapt,” stressed epidemiologist Pierre Masselot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “This means cooling our cities through more green spaces and less pollution, and also ensuring the necessary medical care for the population.” DW