According to research, scientists from the IS Global Institute in Barcelona analysed the impact of heatwaves in eight-hundred regions in thirty-five European countries, finding a total of 47,690 deaths attributable to high temperatures.
Intense
temperatures have put Greece on top of the list of the deadliest places in
Europe for heat deaths, according to new research.
Mediterranean
holiday destinations, such as Italy and Spain, are also among the leading
continental nations for fatalities linked to extreme heat.
Greece
came out worst for deaths caused by heat as a proportion of the population with
393 per one million inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria (229), Italy (209) and
Spain (175).
Cyprus,
Portugal, Malta and Croatia were next on the so-called “heat-death list”,
highlighting the extent to which southern European summers are being marked by
searing heatwaves.
Firefighters
are already battling wildfires caused by high temperatures in a country that is
on the front line of climate change.
Greece’s
Meteo National Observatory has announced that last month was the warmest July
on record – after a similar milestone was recorded for June.
Average
temperatures in Greece between 1960 and 2024 have increased by 2.5 degrees
Celsius, the observatory said.
A major
wildfire raged across the northern suburbs of Athens on Monday, leaving at
least one person dead and triggering multiple evacuations as swirling winds
hampered the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and dozens of water-dropping
planes.
The blaze
started on Sunday near Lake Marathon, about 22 miles northeast of Athens,
before coursing across Mount Penteli and reaching the capital’s outskirts.
Globally,
2023 was the warmest-ever year on record globally and the second warmest in
Europe.
According
to the IS Global study published in Nature Medicine, women and older people are
more vulnerable to the effects of high temperatures, with a heat-related
mortality rate 55 per cent higher in women than in men.
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