More than 4,000 heat deaths in 2022 - RKI report on climate change published
Created: 10/28/2022, 2:00 p.m
By: Anna Heyers
According to the Robert Koch Institute, around 4,500 people in Germany died in the summer of 2022 as a result of heat.
Some regions were particularly affected.
According to estimates by the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
, around 4,500 people died last summer as a result of excessive heat.
The publication also states that the numbers are at a similar level as in 2015, 2019 and 2020. In 2021, around 1,900 people died from heat, compared to almost twice as many the year before.
The number of heat deaths is rising again – especially in the west
The analysis by the
RKI
also showed that most heat-related deaths do not occur in the south, although that is where most of the heat weeks were.
About 1,400 people died there, but in the west the number rose to about 2,000 deaths from the heat.
Something similar was already observed in 2018.
RKI
authors suspect that in regions where hotter summers are common, better adaptation to them is the cause.
One reason for the differences is probably better heat adaptation in regions that have had hotter summers in the past.
Authors of the RKI study
A roadside thermometer reads 40 degrees Celsius in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.
In Germany, too, the summers, in which the temperatures are high for weeks, are becoming more frequent.
© Roberto Casimiro/Imago
There are many reasons for death from heat
It is difficult to record an exact number of those who died from heat, since the causes of death are varied.
They range from heat stroke to complex complications in people with previous illnesses, such as lung diseases or cardiovascular problems.
Similar to smokers who die of lung cancer and not cigarettes, those who die from heat have either heart failure, kidney failure, or an existing condition that is exacerbated by heat, resulting in death.
City dwellers have a particularly high risk of getting sick from the heat.
The official death figures were used for the calculations and the
Covid 19 deaths reported to the
RKI were subtracted from them.
The study authors then compared the numbers with temperature models to estimate the number of heat victims.
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Climate change means hotter summers
The study states that, on a long-term average, the summer of 2022 was the sunniest and fourth warmest since records began.
The number of its hot weeks were comparable to those of the record summer of 2018.
It can be assumed that due to climate change, there will be more periods of extreme heat in Germany in the future.
Authors of the RKI study
Timely observation is immensely important here, as it can help identify risks and take action.
"It can be assumed that, as a result of climate change, there will be more periods of extreme heat in Germany in the future, which can entail far-reaching health risks," say the authors of the
Robert Koch
study.
