Searing temperatures have put Greece on top of the list of the deadliest places in Europe for heat deaths, according to new research.

Other popular Mediterranean holiday destinations, such as Italy and Spain, are also among the leading continental nations for fatalities linked to extreme heat.

Scientists from the IS Global Institute in Barcelona analysed the impact of heatwaves in 800 regions in 35 European countries in 2023, finding a total of 47,690 deaths attributable to high temperatures.

Greece came out worst for deaths caused by heat as a proportion of population with 393 per one million inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria (229), Italy (209) and Spain (175).

Cyprus, Portugal, Malta and Croatia were next on the so-called “heat-death list”, highlighting the extent to which southern European summers are being marked by searing heatwaves.

While the list refers to last year, the outlook for Greece in 2024 does not appear to improve, with its hottest summer on record being predicted by forecasters.

Firefighters are already battling wildfires caused by high temperatures in a country that is on the front line of climate change.

Greece’s Meteo national observatory has announced that last month was the warmest July on record – after a similar milestone was recorded for June.

Average temperatures in Greece between 1960 and 2024 have increased by 2.5 degrees Celsius, the observatory said.

A major wildfire raged across the northern suburbs of Athens on Monday, leaving at least one person dead and triggering multiple evacuations as swirling winds hampered the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and dozens of water-dropping planes.

The blaze started on Sunday near Lake Marathon, about 22 miles northeast of Athens, before coursing across Mount Penteli and reaching the capital’s outskirts.

Globally, 2023 was the warmest-ever year on record globally and the second warmest in Europe.

According to the IS Global study published in Nature Medicine, women and older people are more vulnerable to the effects of high temperatures, with a heat-related mortality rate 55 per cent higher in women than in men.

People over 80 are nearly eight times more likely to die from heat-related causes than those aged between 65 and 79.

The researchers said that the vulnerability to heat of European societies has progressively decreased over the present century due to societal adaptation processes, without which heat-related mortality over the past year would have been 80 per cent higher.