Because air conditioning in homes is so rare in Europe and so widespread in the US, the gap between the number of Europeans and (North) Americans that die each year from heat waves is already larger than the total number of Americans that die from guns. <https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/05/what-the-...>
> the number of Europeans and (North) Americans that die each year from heat waves is already larger than the total number of Americans that die from guns.
This doesn't mean much on its own. People have to die from something eventually, if someone is living a longer life due to not dying for other reasons, they get older and are more susceptible to heat.
A lot of Europe rarely has a need for air conditioning. I'm in Norway, so I'm an exception - I generally only want it a couple weeks per year, if that. It'll be more widespread here, I think, but that is more because of the popularity of heat pumps, which come with some cooling.
Further south - England and Poland and all those coastal areas - are tempered by the ocean. Summers just aren't as hot.
Even further south - Italy and Greece - air conditioning is common. You know, because it is hot there. Further south = hotter summers = air conditioning. Further north = moderate summers = little cool air needed.
I'm in Scotland and I've never wanted air conditioning at home and I'm someone who really doesn't like warm temperatures. Mind you - it doesn't get that cold here as we are next to the sea but it also never gets unpleasantly warm.
Except that source article doesn't make that claim, only number of gun deaths. The best source[1] I could find on heatwave related deaths on short notice has the following summary:
> Asia observed the highest heatwave-related mortality, accounting for 47.97% (85,611 deaths) of the global excess death, followed by Europe (37.23%, 66,443 deaths), the Americas (13.15%, 23,467deaths), Africa (1.61%, 2,881 deaths), and Oceania (0.05%, 83 deaths).
That of course muddles the picture by combining both American continents, though further down it quotes 9,666 for "Northern America" in table 1; though the Europe number also includes all of Russia. Those numbers are from 2023. Additionally, Europe has more than twice the population of North America. Without doing the maths, the gap claim sound about right; however, that doesn't necessarily mean it's due to a lack of air conditioning in Europe.
Just an opinion. There is more AC in Asia and South Asia and more heat waves related deaths.
You number, approximately right but means nothing and the link AC => Less deaths by Heat Wave isn't supported by any fact.
Others factors like percent of the population > 70y, difference between usual temp / mean temperature in an heat wave and access to fresh and clean water should be more correlated than "AC implantation per hundred inhab".
I'm in the UK and we have AC. I do indeed see it popping up everywhere around where I live. You see more and more homes getting fitted with minisplits.
