The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that successive heat waves during the last summer months caused thousands of deaths in European countries.
The organization indicated that Spain and Germany were the most affected.
The three months from June to August were the hottest in Europe since records began, and exceptionally high temperatures caused the continent's worst drought since the Middle Ages.
"Based on the country data presented so far, it is estimated that at least 15,000 people died specifically from the heat in 2022," WHO Director-General for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement.
During the three summer months, health authorities recorded about 4,000 deaths in Spain, more than a thousand in Portugal, more than 3,200 in the United Kingdom, and about 4,500 deaths in Germany.
Heat waves affected crops in Europe while forest fires increased to record levels as a result of drought.
The pressure on the continent's power grids has also increased.
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