Heat-related mortality rate in Europe Summer 2022, by country

As climate change causes average temperatures to rise across the European continent, this will inevitably lead to an increasing number of heat-related deaths, or deaths as a result of excess exposure to high temperatures. This is particularly an issue for southern European countries, such as Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal, who are already experiencing a massive uptick in the number of extreme heat days per year, with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in these countries during the Summer. In the Summer of 2022, Italy recorded 295 heat deaths per million inhabitants, resulting in a total of over 18,000 people dying due to excess heat exposure. Europe-wide, this rate was 114 heat deaths per million inhabitants.