Record-breaking heatwave in Europe: 50,000 deaths in the summer of 2026. Italia worst hit of all
A study by Imperial College London on deaths linked to high temperatures. Over 13,000 cases in our country
The temperatures extremely high temperatures in the summer of 2026 are said to have caused over 50,000 deaths in European urban areas, of which more than 13,000 in Italia, the country with the highest number of deaths. This is according to a new study by Imperial College London.
The researchers analysed 854 urban areas, which together account for approximately 40 per cent of the population of 30 European countries, using temperature data and statistical models to estimate the excess heat-related deaths during the summers between 2000 and 2026.
According to the study, last summer saw 50,391 deaths linked to high temperatures, of which 32,619 – or 65 per cent – were attributable to climate change. This figure is significantly higher than the 29,480 deaths estimated for the summer of 2022 and the 28,462 recorded in 2003.
“We can say with a fairly high degree of certainty that the summer of 2026 was probably the worst on record in terms of heat-related deaths across much of Europe,” said Clair Barnes, a researcher specialising in extreme weather events and climate change at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London.
Italia is the country hardest hit, with an estimated 13,303 deaths, followed by France with 7,268, Spain with 6,824, Germany with 6,340 and the United Kingdom with 4,354.
