Cold Weather Kills More Than Eight Times as Many Europeans as Heat

A study has found that cold weather is responsible for more than eight times the number of deaths caused by heat in Europe. The report, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, examined 854 urban areas in Europe between 2000 and 2019. It found an estimated 363,809 deaths annually due to cold, compared to an average of 43,729 deaths annually due to heat. However, the study also found that global warming is likely to lead to a significant increase in heat-related deaths. Researchers found that cold weather-related deaths will decline slightly by 2100 to 333,704 – a decrease of 30,000 – but they estimate that heat-related deaths will rise to 128,809, an increase of more than 85,000.