At least 15,000 people died in Europe in the heat waves recorded in 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday (7), highlighting Spain and Germany as the most affected countries.
The three months between June and August were the hottest in Europe since records began, with exceptionally high temperatures that triggered the continent’s worst drought since the Middle Ages.
“Based on data submitted by countries so far, it is estimated that at least 15,000 people died specifically from heat waves in 2022,” WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said in a note.
“Almost 4,000 deaths in Spain, more than 1,000 in Portugal, more than 3,200 in the United Kingdom and some 4,500 deaths in Germany were recorded by the health authorities during the three summer months”, he added.
“This estimate is expected to increase as more countries report heat-related deaths,” Kluge said.
European crops withered in granaries and the lack of rain caused record-breaking fires, putting pressure on the continent’s electrical grids. The successive heat waves between June and July, when the thermometers reached 40ºC in the United Kingdom for the first time, left in Europe an excess of 24 thousand deaths, approximately.
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