More deaths from heat­wa­ves than traf­fic acci­dents in Euro­pe — Why urgent cli­ma­te and social action is nee­ded

Jonas Ger­ke^a, Doro­thea Baltruks^b

^{a) KLUG – Deut­sche Alli­anz Kli­ma­wan­del und Gesund­heit e.V.
b) Cent­re for Pla­ne­ta­ry Health Poli­cy}

Heat-rela­ted deaths across Euro­pe rose by 30% in the last 20 years, with a par­ti­cu­lar­ly steep rise from 2015. To illus­tra­te the sca­le of this gro­wing public health issue, Jonas Ger­ke and Doro­thea Baltruks are loo­king at recent data and put them in con­trast to the num­ber of road traf­fic fata­li­ties. They find that in 2023, the num­ber of heat-rela­ted deaths was 2.2 times hig­her than the num­ber of road traf­fic deaths in the EU. Data for 2024 from Ger­ma­ny and Spain indi­ca­te a hig­her death toll due to heat than to road acci­dents.

Heat-rela­ted deaths in Euro­pe are pro­jec­ted to increase in the coming years and could reach over 120,000 by 2050 depen­ding on how effec­ti­ve cli­ma­te pro­tec­tion and adapt­a­ti­on can pro­tect peo­p­le. The elder­ly, peo­p­le with chro­nic health con­di­ti­ons, and tho­se living in urban are­as in adver­se living or working con­di­ti­ons or in pover­ty are most at risk.

While cli­ma­te miti­ga­ti­on is essen­ti­al to limit heat-rela­ted health risks, effec­ti­ve cli­ma­te adapt­a­ti­on mea­su­res are also urgen­tly nee­ded to bet­ter pro­tect people’s health.

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