More than 50,000 people died in Europe from extreme heat in the summer of 2026, and about 32,000 of those deaths were caused by climate change, two studies in the journal Nature Health show.

It is the highest heat death toll on the continent this century. The summer beat the previous records of 29,000 deaths in 2022 and 28,000 in 2003.

Scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine carried out the studies. They cover 854 cities in the EU, the UK, Norway and Switzerland, which are home to about 40% of the population of 30 countries.

Almost a third of the summer's deaths came during the late June heatwave, which broke several temperature records.

The oldest people were hit hardest: those over 85 account for about half of the estimated deaths. About 6,000 people under 65 died, and the scientists estimate more than 800 extra deaths among those aged 20 to 44.

Lead author Clair Barnes, who studies extreme weather at Imperial College London, says this was probably the worst summer on record for heat deaths across most of Europe.

One of the studies also covers the years 2000–2025. In that time, heat-related deaths totalled 430,000, and about half of them were due to climate change.