Heat waves kill more than 47,000 people in Europe in one year, with Bulgaria ranking second

Heat waves kill more than 47,000 people in Europe in one year, with Bulgaria ranking second

In almost all countries analyzed, significantly more women than men died from heat-related events, with the elderly being particularly vulnerable.

Experts estimate that more than 47,000 people will die in Europe in 2023 due to heat waves, the hottest temperatures ever recorded globally, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

The results were obtained in a modeling study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and published in the journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers found that the countries with the highest heat-related mortality rates are in southern Europe. The top four in the assessment are Greece (393 deaths per million inhabitants), Bulgaria (229), Italy (209) and Spain (175). In contrast, Germany will have a mortality rate of 76 deaths per million inhabitants by 2023.

According to an international research team Society appears to be adapting to hot weather.

The team calculated heat-related mortality rates in 2023 for 823 regions in 35 European countries using data on 96 million deaths provided by European statistics agency Eurostat.

An estimated 47,690 people died in Europe last year from heat-related causes. This is the second-highest death rate since such calculations began in 2015, with the highest death rate recorded in 2022.

In absolute numbers, the team estimates that Italy will see just under 12,750 deaths from heat stroke in 2023, and Germany will see 6,376. Significantly more women than men die from heat-related events, with the elderly being particularly vulnerable.

The scientists, led by Elisa Gallo, also simulated the impact of heat-related mortality in the absence of adaptation measures. These include, for example, improvements in healthcare, social security and lifestyle, advances in occupational health, greater risk awareness and more effective communication. Without these measures, heat-related deaths in Europe would increase by 80% in the general population by 2023, and by more than 100% in people over 80 years old.