Rising heat waves put Europe's children at growing health risk

Save the Children found three in four children in the United Kingdom were exposed to extreme heatwaves in the first six months of 2026, the highest level in 30 years and higher than in any previous calendar year since 1995. Across Western Europe, two-thirds of children faced extreme heatwaves in the same period.

Heatwaves in Europe are a major health risk. WHO Europe identifies children among the vulnerable groups most in danger. UNICEF estimated that rising temperatures across Europe and Central Asia killed 377 children in 2021, with most deaths occurring in the summer months. UNICEF estimated 57% of children in the region are at risk of heatwaves at least six times a year.

Children face greater physiological risk because they heat up faster, sweat less efficiently and depend on adults to keep them cool and hydrated. During the late-June and early-July 2025 heatwave, schools in parts of Europe closed. In the United Kingdom, the Met Office issued rare amber and red extreme heat warnings for the week beginning June 22, 2026.

A 2024 scoping review found that extreme heat in children was associated with more emergency department visits, asthma exacerbations, heat illness and poorer health outcomes. Harvard’s Early Childhood Scientific Council on Equity and the Environment published a 2023 working paper on how extreme heat affects early childhood development and health.

Copernicus recorded an unusually early and intense heatwave in Western Europe in the second half of May 2026, mainly between May 21 and May 30. A 2025 study found that the three most severe major European heatwaves, in 2003, 2010 and 2021, were record-breaking over more than half of the grid points studied. A July 2025 analysis by the Grantham Institute found human-caused climate change intensified a recent European heatwave and increased heat deaths by about 1,500 across 12 European cities.