European heatwave caused nearly 62,000 deaths in 2022

A girl cools off in a Paris fountain during the 2022 summer heatwave.

(Image credit: Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty Images)

published 11 July 2023

During the heatwave that engulfed Europe over the summer of 2022, nearly 62,000 people died of heat-related illnesses, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.

The deaths occurred between May 30 and Sept. 4, researchers said, with the elderly and women particularly harmed — the heat-related mortality rate was 63% higher in woman compared to men, and the death toll was highest for people 65 and older. Italy had the most deaths, at 18,000, followed by Spain with around 11,000 and Germany with roughly 8,000.

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After a brutal and deadly heatwave in 2003, several European countries came up with plans to prevent future heat-related deaths. The death toll from 2022 "suggests that adaptation strategies currently available may still be insufficient," study co-author Hicham Achebak, a researcher at ISGlobal, told CNN. "The acceleration of warming observed over the last 10 years underlines the urgent need to reassess and substantially strengthen prevention plans."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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