PARIS: At least 94 million people in Europe are expected to experience temperatures over 35°C on Wednesday, most of them in France and Spain, according to AFP calculations.
And more than 350 million people across Europe (excluding Turkey) are expected to experience temperatures above 30°C.
That represents nearly two-thirds of the population, according to an analysis based on forecasts from the German weather service (DWD) and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.
The figures broadly align with projections from the Austrian NGO Klimadashboard. They show that more than 90 million people are set to be affected by temperatures exceeding 35°C in the European Union, including 50 million in France and 20 million in Spain.
Almost all residents of mainland France and around 38 million people in Spain are expected to experience temperatures above 30°C on Wednesday.
Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Hungary are also expected to be significantly affected.
AFP used a method similar to the one used by Klimadashboard, cross-referencing the DWD weather forecast model (calculated at 0000 GMT) with population density.
Residents are counted if the model predicts temperatures exceeding 30°C or 35°C at their location at any point during the day.
As the model has a resolution of approximately 6.5 km, it cannot fully capture urban heat islands, David Jablonski of the NGO Klimadashboard told AFP.
Consequently, "we likely underestimate affected people in dense urban areas", the organisation noted on its "European Heat Tracker" website.
