The study, coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and published in the Nature Medicine journal, said that Italy had the highest heat-related death toll in Europe in the summer of 2022, with 18,100 mortalities out of a total of 61,672 for the whole continent.
Spain was second with 11,324 deaths followed by Germany with 8173.
Europe was hit by a series of intense heatwaves last year that led to drought and devastating wildfires.
The study said the average temperature in Europe was about 2° Celsius above the average for the period last summer.
In France it was 2.43° above average while in Italy it was 2.28° higher.
Scientists say the climate crisis caused by human greenhouse gas emissions is causing extreme weather events such as heat waves, drought, supercharged storms and flooding to be more frequent and more intense.
Eight major Italian cities were on red alert on Tuesday as the heatwave the nation is enduring intensifies.
Bolzano, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Perugia and Turin have joined Rome and Rieti, which were already on red alert on Monday, as Italy bakes in its second heatwave of the summer.
Rome, Rieti, Florence, Frosinone, Latina and Perugia will also be on red alert on Wednesday, as will Bologna.
Red alert means the heat is so intense it poses a threat to healthy, active people.
Orange alert, the next notch down, indicates that the heat is a danger to fragile groups such as the elderly, the clinically vulnerable and very young children.
The current heat wave is forecast to last all week, with temperatures going above 40° Celsius.
ANSA
