Slovakia Has No Reliable System for Tracking Heat-Related Deaths, Data Shows

Slovakia has recorded just 42 official heat-related deaths over nearly 30 years, a figure experts say drastically underrepresents the true toll of extreme heat on the population. The country lacks a proper monitoring system to count deaths caused by high temperatures, meaning the actual number of fatalities linked to heatwaves remains unknown. In most European countries, heat-related mortality is tracked through so-called excess death analysis — a method that compares actual death rates during heatwave periods against historical averages to estimate how many additional deaths the heat caused. Slovakia does not systematically apply this approach, leaving a significant gap in public health data. The official figure of 42 deaths over three decades counts only cases where heat was listed as a direct cause of death on a death certificate, a rare occurrence even when heat is a major contributing factor. The issue has growing relevance as climate change drives more frequent and intense heatwaves across Central Europe. Without accurate data, Slovak public health authorities cannot properly assess the scale of the risk, plan preventive measures, or allocate resources to protect vulnerable groups such as the elderly. The absence of reliable tracking means Slovakia may be significantly underprepared for increasingly extreme summer temperatures.