Areas of Europe home to more than 135 million people -- particularly in France, Italy, Spain and the UK -- were set for temperatures over 35C yesterday as the continent’s latest heatwave intensifies, according to AFP calculations.

Europe is the planet’s fastest-warming continent and in some places is ill-equipped to deal with hot weather. Repeated heatwaves and drought have fuelled a historically hot summer of wildfires, and contributed to the deaths of thousands of people so far.

Scientists blame ever hotter and more frequent heatwaves on human-caused climate change.

Temperatures were set to surpass 30C for nearly three out of five European residents (excluding Turkey) -- amounting to around 340 million people --according to an analysis based on German weather service forecasts and 2025 population projections from the Joint Research Centre.

AFP’s findings are consistent with those of Austrian NGO Klimadashboard. For Wednesday, temperatures exceeding 35°C were forecast for at least 92 million people, based on a weather model from 0300 GMT.

Yesterday, the most intense heat was again expected in western and southern Europe. Temperatures were set to climb above 35°C in regions of France home to 50 million people, including the capital Paris.

While mountainous areas were set to be spared, the heat was expected to spread into northeastern regions that remained cooler on Wednesday.

In Italy, similar temperatures are forecast to affect 29 million inhabitants, particularly along the west coast, in the Po Valley, the “heel” of the boot, and on the islands.

Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula are also likely to be affected, with 25 million people impacted in Spain.