Spain was the hardest hit by extreme heat in Europe, where 62,000 people died last year.

MORE than 62,000 people died in the summer of 2024 due to a record-breaking heatwave, a study has revealed – with Spain recording the second highest death toll across Europe.

The figures published by Nature Medicine According to the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (BIGH), there were 62 775 deaths in Europe between June 1 and 30 last year due to high temperatures.

In fact, a recent report issued by the World Meteorological Organisation and the Copernicus Climate Change Services has revealed that 2024 was Europe’s warmest year on record – with the Mediterranean Sea found to be 1.2C above average.

In Europe, extreme heat deaths increased by 23.6%, compared with the estimate of 50.800 deaths for the summer of 2019.

However, the numbers are down 8.1% from the brutally hot summer of 2022 which killed an estimated 67.900 people.

Italy, on the other hand, was the worst affected country with nearly 19,000 heat-related deaths.

Germany was third with 6,282 dead, followed closely by Greece with 5,980.

Spain’s number is lower than 2022 and 2023 when heat-related deaths were estimated to be 11,300 and 8,300 respectively.

READ MORE Heat-related deaths record in Spain during August

It is because the temperatures in summer were lower than they were the previous two summers, even though the summer of 2024 was one of the hottest on record.

Dr Tomáš Janoš, author of the study, said: “Europe is the continent that is warming most quickly, at twice the global average.

“And in Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and the South-Eastern Regions are emerging as major hotspots for climate change, with the most severe impacts on health, and a substantial increase in heat-related deaths projected throughout the 21st Century.”

He continued: “Although Copernicus rated the summer 2024 as the hottest in history, the summers of the years 2022 and 203 were actually hotter.

“However these regional differences in temperature average are not fully reflected on mortality. As the estimated deaths for summer 2024 were higher that those estimated for summer 2023, and only slightly below those estimated for 2022.

The highest temperatures in 2022 and in 2024 occurred in the south-western part of Europe and in the south-eastern part, which are both highly susceptible to heat.

The study also revealed the disparate impact of heat on vulnerable population groups. Older adults and women are particularly at risk.

Women’s mortality rates were 46.7% higher compared to men’s mortality rates, and mortality rates for people over 75 were 323% greater.

Professor Joan Ballester Claramunt, study author and principal investigator of the European Research Council (ERC) EARLY-ADAPT project, said the magnitude of the figures highlights the need to ‘strengthen adaptation strategies, including the development and implementation of a new generation of continent-wide, impact-based heat-health early warning systems’.

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