Europe Logs Over 30,000 Excess Summer Deaths Amid Back-to-Back Heat Waves

Europe recorded at least 30,000 excess deaths during a summer of back-to-back heat waves and drought that scientists have linked to human-caused climate change, according to provisional figures. The continent's EuroMomo monitoring platform estimated more than 32,000 excess deaths between mid-July and mid-August alone, with the summer not yet over.

An AFP count of national tolls across Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain found 33,000 excess deaths or deaths directly linked to the heat over a comparable period. EuroMomo's latest weekly estimates show the last week of June was the summer's deadliest, with nearly 16,000 excess deaths, followed by the first week of July with about 8,000; both coincided with exceptional heat waves and widespread drought that fueled wildfires.

Germany, the European Union's most populous country, recorded 14,000 heat-linked deaths through August 9, a record since its Robert Koch Institute began keeping such statistics in 2016, with people over 75 affected the most. France logged 7,300 excess deaths between late May and July 22, while Spain recorded nearly 4,500 heat-linked deaths between June 1 and August 19, the highest for that period since 2022.

England's health and safety authority estimated 2,877 heat-related deaths across May and June's heat waves, close to the historic tally of 2,985 from summer 2022, and warned the full-year toll could be substantially higher. Belgium recorded 2,570 excess deaths between June 18 and July 17; its Sciensano public health institute said the toll would be updated in September to include the period from July 25 to August 16, which saw the country's worst wildfire in modern history.

The Netherlands recorded 968 excess deaths between June 22 and July 5, according to its RIVM public health institute.