Temperatures are set to surpass 30C for around three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey) -- amounting to around 350 million people, according to an analysis based on German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre, with results consistent with the Austrian NGO Klimadashboard.
Europe is the fastest-warming continent and in some places is ill-equipped to deal with hot weather.
Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming, primarily caused by burning coal, oil and gas -- and warn they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Repeat heatwaves and drought have fuelled a historically hot summer of wildfires, and contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.
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In France, temperatures climbed even higher, with weather service Meteo-France recording 42.5C in Chateaumeillant in central France, the country's highest reading on Thursday.
Paris hit 38C and much of the country was under a heatwave alert.
In Italy, similar temperatures were forecast to affect 29 million people, particularly along the west coast, in the Po Valley, the south and on Italy's islands.
Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula also sweltered, with around 25 million people affected in Spain. The country's Aemet weather agency recorded temperatures of 37C in central regions on Thursday.
In the UK, temperatures also reached 36C or higher in 40 locations across central and southern England. The country is on track to record its hottest ever summer, the Met Office said this week.
The heatwave has fanned wildfires across Europe. In northern Greece, hundreds of tourists were evacuated by boat as a forest fire bore down on two popular resorts, while crews in central England's West Midlands region battled blazes damaging homes amid drought conditions.
AFP calculates the figures using a method similar to that of Klimadashboard, cross-referencing population density with the weather forecast model from the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) -- Germany's national meteorological service -- published at 0300 GMT.
Residents are counted if the model forecasts temperatures above 30C or 35C at their location at any point during the day.
As the model has a resolution of approximately 6.5 km it does not fully capture urban heat-island effects, when cities are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, David Jablonski of NGO Klimadashboard told AFP.
Consequently, the analysis "likely underestimates the number of people affected in densely populated urban areas", the organisation notes on its "European Heat Tracker" website.
In London, temperatures hit 38.1C at Kew Gardens, making it the fifth-hottest day on record for Britain, according to official weather agency the Met Office.
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