Extreme heat in Spain this year turned out to be ten times deadlier than last year. From mid-May to mid-July, about 1180 people died in the country due to abnormal heat, compared to 114 in 2024, according to the Spanish Ministry of Health, UNN writes with reference to Bloomberg.
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The Spanish authorities have issued a total of 76 "red" warnings for extreme heat in the last two months, while there were no such warnings in the same period of 2024.
According to the meteorological agency Aemet, this June was the hottest in Spain's history: the average temperature was 23.6°C, which is 3.5°C higher than the average historical value from 1991 to 2020.
According to the government, over 95% of those who died this summer were over 65 years old, and almost two-thirds of them were women. The highest mortality rate was recorded in the northern regions of Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias, and Cantabria, where historically moderate temperatures were observed in summer, making them more vulnerable to extreme heat.
According to the research center Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the heat-related mortality rate in Spain is significantly higher than the mortality rate from heatstroke reported by regional authorities in the country. According to the government, 10 such cases have been registered in the last two months. Many experts argue that the number of heat-related deaths is underestimated, as it is difficult to confirm that individual deaths are heat-related.