More than 200,000 people have died from heat in Europe over the past four years.

Omissions

• The WHO figure covers the EU and its associated countries (the wider European region), not a narrower 'EU only' scope.
• The WHO explicitly describes nearly all of these deaths as preventable with adequate heat-health adaptation measures — context omitted by the MEP but not contradicting the figure.
• The Copernicus ESOTC 2025 report notes that a heat-related death estimate for 2025 was not yet available at publication; the WHO 'past 4 years' total is based on the WHO/EEA heat-health monitoring estimates for 2022–2025.
• These are model-based estimates of heat-related excess mortality, not certified death-count statistics.

Sources

• PrimaryWHO Regional Office for Europe — Statement 'Europe lost 200 000 people to heat in 4 years'Over just the past 4 years, heat has claimed more than 200 000 lives across the EU and its associated countries. The tragedy is 2-fold: first, these are preventable deaths...
• PrimaryCopernicus Health Hub — Climate and Health in Europe: Key Insights from ESOTC 2025Over the past four years, extreme heat has claimed more than 200,000 lives across the EU and its associated countries, with most of these deaths considered...
• PrimaryCopernicus — European State of the Climate 2025, Thermal stressThere were estimated to be around 62,800 heat-related deaths in Europe in 2024, 47,700 in 2023 and 61,700 in 2022. An estimate for 2025 is not yet available.
• SecondaryEuronews — 'WHO says Europe must act after 200000 preventable heat-related deaths'Heat kills thousands of Europeans every year, deaths the WHO says could be prevented with the right policies in place.