More than 60,000 people died from extreme heat in Europe.

Omissions

• The claim does not specify which year it refers to. The most recent verified data (summer 2024) confirms the figure at 62,775 deaths, but the previous year (2023) recorded approximately 47,690 heat-related deaths — below the 60,000 threshold.
• The Nature Medicine study covering 2024 data was published in 2025, after the summer period, and was available before the session date of 2026-06-15. No peer-reviewed data for summer 2025 was found, though it would likely have been available by mid-2026.
• The study's confidence interval for the 2024 estimate is wide (36,765–84,379), reflecting significant uncertainty in the exact count of heat-related deaths.

Sources

• PrimaryISGlobal (Barcelona Institute for Global Health)The study, published in Nature Medicine and led by ISGlobal, estimates 62,775 heat-related deaths in Europe between 1 June and 30 September 2024. This is the third consecutive summer in which heat-related mortality in Europe has exceeded 60,000 deaths, following the summers of 2022 and 2023.
• PrimaryWHO EuropeIn 35 countries of the Region, heat claimed more than 60,000 lives in 2022 and 47,500 lives in 2023.
• PrimaryClimate-ADAPT (European Environment Agency)For 2022, it was estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 people in Europe died from heat. In 2023, just under 48,000 heat-related deaths were estimated across Europe.
• AcademicNature Medicine (PubMed)We estimated 62,775 (95% confidence interval = 36,765–84,379) heat-related deaths in 2024, largely exceeding the burden in 2023 (50,798; 29,442–74,606) and in 2022 (67,609; 39,790–93,062).