Europe experienced its deadliest summer on record with over 50,000 heat-related deaths

Updated 2026-10-25 · told from many outlets at once

Europe faced a record-breaking heatwave from late May to August, resulting in over 50,000 heat-related deaths in cities across the continent.

• Researchers found 50,391 people died from warmer temperatures in 854 European cities.
• About two-thirds of the deaths have been attributed to human-induced climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution.
• The study found that the proportion of heat-related deaths attributable to climate change increased to 65% during the summer of 2026.
• The air temperature in Western Europe was about 2.9 degrees Celsius higher than the average for 1991–2020.
• The researchers' findings are based on data from 854 urban areas in 27 EU states, plus Great Britain, Norway, and Switzerland.
• The study estimates 6,824 heat-related deaths in Spain.
• Scientists from the Imperial Grantham Institute and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine modeled heat-related excess mortality.

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