Heat exposure of hospitals

Climate change is increasing the number of hot days across Europe. The heat season is also becoming longer, with hot days occurring outside of summer months, as illustrated by the May 2026 heatwave.  High temperatures and heatwaves increase hospital admissions, according to studies in Portugal and across 16 OECD countries. Extreme or prolonged heat may lead to malfunction of medical equipment, ICT system failures, and cancellations of surgeries. Exposure to heat also worsens the health of patients and staff in healthcare facilities.

This data viewer explores the exposure of healthcare facilities across Europe to high temperatures – in the recent past and in the future under the changing climate. It uses Copernicus Climate Change Service data and location of healthcare facilities data from Eurostat to calculate exposure to hot days. 

Key messages

Currently, over 14,400  (87.4%) healthcare facilities in Europe already experience days with maximum temperatures above 30°C; 8,500 (51.3%) are exposed to temperatures exceeding 35°C and just under 600 hospitals (3.6%) are faced with temperatures over 40°C.

By 2050, under a high-warming scenario, the number of healthcare facilities experiencing at least one day with temperature over 40°C will increase 5 times to over 2,900 (17.8%); 68.8% of all healthcare facilities in Europe are projected to experience at least one day with maximum temperature exceeding 35 °C.

When comparing historical data with projections for 2050 under a high-warming scenario, the countries with the highest increase in the number of healthcare facilities experiencing at least one day with temperatures over 40°C are France (rising from 47 to 1,163 facilities) and Italy (increase from 112 to 622). The countries with the highest projected percent increase in hospitals exposed to 40°C are Serbia (85%), Hungary (67%) and Croatia (60%).

Healthcare facilities across Europe require urgent adaptation to reduce heat impacts on patients and staff to respond to changing climatic conditions.

Explore viewer below

The development of this dashboard was funded by the EEA-RTD Service Level Agreement on “Enhancing the access to in situ Earth observation data in support of climate change adaptation policies and activities”

Why do some regions not show any days with 40° C, yet these temperatures have occurred in recent years?

We only count the days when the probability of exceeding 40°C is greater than 50%. Therefore, a value of 0 days does not mean that 40°C can never occur; it simply means that the probability never exceeds 50% on any day.

Data source:

Probability of Hot days (raster) 2000-2100, Jan. 2026

Healthcare facilities in Europe (Eurostat, 2025)