European countries experienced over 10,000 additional deaths during the unprecedented heat wave that swept across Western Europe in late June, according to official reports. The majority of these deaths, exceeding 9,000, were among individuals aged 65 and older, as per data released by EuroMOMO, a network supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization.
The extreme heat during this period led to fatalities primarily through heat stroke and exacerbation of cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, with the elderly being particularly vulnerable. Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO, emphasized the unusually high excess mortality attributed to the extreme heat, stating that it is challenging to attribute this significant increase in deaths to any factor other than the extreme temperatures.
Scientists have linked the late-June heat wave to human-induced climate change, noting that such extreme weather events would have been nearly impossible without this influence. Data collected from 27 European countries encompassed excess deaths from all causes, not limited to heat-related fatalities, during the peak of the heat wave from June 22 to 28, affecting countries like France, Spain, and the UK.
Experts ruled out major contributing factors like COVID-19 outbreaks for the spike in excess deaths, reaching 10,650 in that specific week. In the preceding eight weeks, the combined mortality rate in these European countries was around 500 deaths below the typical levels per week on average. The impact of the heat wave in late June was profound, disrupting power supplies, closing schools, and setting temperature records in several countries.
EuroMOMO does not provide country-specific excess death figures but highlighted France and Belgium as the countries with notably high excess mortality in the final week of June. Belgium reported its highest excess mortality during a heat wave since records dating back to 2000, according to the country’s public health institute, Sciensano.
A recent study estimated that 2,700 people in England and Wales succumbed to heat-related causes during the May and June heatwaves, with 42% of these deaths attributed to the additional heat linked to global warming. The findings were a collaboration between Imperial College London, the UK Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.