Do more Europeans die of summer heat than Americans die of guns?

Do more Europeans die of summer heat than Americans die of guns?(hannahritchie.substack.com)

5 points by harambae 35 days ago | 4 comments

This again, truth is US lacks good data on death from heat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/us/extreme-heat-deaths.ht...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/climate/heat-deaths.html

yorwba 34 days ago | |

The article explicitly addresses this, adjusts US heat deaths upward using a comparable method to the European figures, and still finds that there are many more heat deaths in Europe.

E.g. from your first link:

> ... some researchers say the actual number is far higher. One study that examined data from the late 1990s to the early 2000s concluded that the average number of fatalities annually was roughly 10,000.

It's six times higher in Europe.

Also note that the hook is an elderly man dying when "His air-conditioner, set to 70, was blowing hot air. The temperature inside was nearly 110 degrees." Meanwhile in Berlin, I have no AC I could set to 21°C at all... Fortunately, annual highs so far have been below 39°C, but even that is hard to bear.

lordkrandel 34 days ago |

Could be. I don't know how the US people die less of heat. I know the overuse AC everywhere, but most people who die by heat are either on the streets, or old people. US has plenty pf them, and plenty of heat in Mexico and southern states.

yorwba 34 days ago | |

Europe not only has plenty of old people, they're also unlikely to have AC at home, so every year during a heat wave, a large number of them (though still a small share of the population) don't make it.