More than 4,500 people died in England in 2022 due to high temperatures, the largest figure on record, with the number of heat-related deaths increasing over recent years.
Between 1988 and 2022, almost 52,000 deaths associated with the hottest days were recorded in England, with a third of them occurring since 2016, data from the Office for National Statistics shows. During the same 35-year period analysed, more than 2,000 people died in Wales due to the warm temperatures.
The mortality risk increased across all regions in England when the temperatures exceeded 22C (71.6F), with London registering the highest rate. The mortality risk in the capital for temperatures over 29C was three times that recorded for temperatures considered optimal, which is between 9C and 22C.
2022 was the UK’s warmest year on record, registering for the first time a temperature above 40C and an annual average temperature of 10C. While temperatures have not broken that limit in 2023, the country experienced an unprecedented heatwave in September with seven days of 30C heat.
Globally, data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service showed the summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded. Average global temperatures between June and August reached record levels, and August was about 1.5C warmer than the preindustrial average for 1850 to 1900.
A recent study showed the heatwaves of 2022 killed more than 61,000 people across Europe, with the highest rates in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
Scientists have said that breaking heat records has become more normal and the human-caused climate crisis makes prolonged and intense heatwaves more likely. Experts warn that multiple-day heatwaves are the biggest threat for human health because there is not a break in high temperatures. The body starts recovering only when temperatures drop below 27C.
ONS data also shows that more people die due to cold than high temperatures. More than 216,000 deaths registered in England and Wales were associated with the coldest days from 1988 and 2022.
In 2022, about 1,200 deaths were related to the coldest days, the second-lowest figure in 35 years. The highest number of people dying due to low temperatures was in 2020, with more than 20,100.
The ONS calculated deaths attributable to high and low temperatures to understand the potential deaths that could be avoided by limiting exposure to very high or very low temperatures.
Prof Antonio Gasparrini, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and who worked on the ONS report, said: “This is a stark warning that this will become the norm due to climate change, and it makes even more urgent the need to implement adequate climate and public health measures.
“Finally, it is quite telling that this report comes out just days after the UK government has decided to dilute their commitment on net zero and generally on policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
