The hot summer of 2026 in Europe claimed around 50,000 lives, according to estimates by British researchers, making it the deadliest summer on record.
Nearly two-thirds of the victims (65 percent), researchers say, were directly linked to climate change.
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For the study, researchers from the Imperial Grantham Institute in the UK and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine measured excess mortality caused by high temperatures.
They used data from 854 urban areas in the 27 member states of the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland. The regions analyzed are home to around 40 percent of the total population of these 30 countries.
16,000 heat-related deaths in Germany
For comparison, around 29,000 people died from the heat in 2022, the hottest year recorded at the time, while around 28,000 died in 2003.
The countries of Southern and Western Europe were hit hardest. However, thousands of deaths were also recorded in traditionally cooler countries. In the United Kingdom, researchers estimate that around 4,500 deaths were linked to high temperatures.
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), based in Berlin, also published similar figures in mid-September. It estimated that around 16,000 people died from the heat in Germany during this summer alone.
According to the British researchers, June 2026 had particularly dramatic consequences in Europe. Their estimates suggest that nearly one-third of all heat-related deaths occurred between June 17 and July 1.
During this period, temperatures averaged five degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 reference-period average. This exceptional heat wave is considered one of the main factors that made the summer of 2026 Europe’s deadliest from heat since records began.
It was not only older people who died
“We can say with a fairly high degree of confidence that the summer of 2026 was the worst since records began in terms of heat-related mortality across large parts of Europe,” said Clair Barnes, a researcher in 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 older people. 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 ill-prepared for rising temperatures, and it is vital that we strengthen our efforts to adapt,” said epidemiologist Pierre Masselot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “This means cooling cities with more green spaces and less pollution, as well as ensuring that people have access to the medical care they need.” / DW
