More than 2,000 people in England died due to the hot weather last summer, according to new government estimates . With temperatures forecast to reach 33°C in parts of the country this weekend, doctors are urging people to take take care – especially older people. According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) , 92 per cent of the total death toll of 2,295 were those aged over 65.
In total, 16,239 years of life were lost due to heat in the summer of 2023, meaning, that on average, every person over the age of 65 who died from the heat would have lived 7.7 years longer had temperatures not been that high. The number of deaths is lower than in 2022, when the extreme heatwaves and record breaking temperatures of 40.
3°C killed an estimated 2,985 people in England. That year saw the highest number heat-mortality reports since they were first published in 2016 – since when temperatures have frequently been among the highest on record as a result of climate change. The second highest came in 2020, when 2,556 people died from the heat – with 2023 being third.
“It’s distressing that last summer felt mild compared with the record-breaking year before but still resulted in over 2,000 heat-related deaths. It just shows how unprepared we are for the warmer summers that climate change is bringing,” Roger Harding, Director of Round Our Way, an organisation that supports people impacted by weather extremes in the UK, told i . “It is heartbreaking to think those killed by .