“As far as we know, there are no other causes for this excess mortality than the heat, and that is quite dramatic,” explained Lasse Vestergaard.Image: keystone
At least 12,000 additional deaths were recorded in around 10 European countries during the exceptional heatwave in June, according to a compilation compiled by the French news agency AFP.
July 17, 2026, 02:35July 17, 2026, 02:35
Between June 22nd and 28th, the peak of the heat wave in several countries, around 10,000 additional deaths have already been recorded by the national institutes of seven countries (Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg).
In addition, there are 2,200 heat-related deaths in England and Wales, according to estimates by the British Met Office for the longer period from June 18th to 28th.
This number is incomplete; Preliminary data from the European excess mortality monitoring platform EuroMOMO (European Mortality Monitoring) also indicates a significant increase in this last week of June, with 14,260 additional deaths. This statistical model is based on official reports from 24 countries, which together represent almost 400 million inhabitants.
“Summer is not over yet,” warned WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Henri Kluge, on Thursday. “We have the means to prevent these deaths.” Currently, too many governments still view the heat as a weather event rather than a health emergency.
Large excess mortality
This is the week of June with the highest excess mortality since the start of the harmonized EuroMOMO series in 2020, which does not cover part of Eastern Europe. Among all summer weeks over the past seven years, this week 26 of 2026 is surpassed by only one other week in July 2022. At that time, Covid-19 was still circulating in some countries.
“As far as we know, there are no other causes for this excess mortality than the heat, and that is quite dramatic,” explained Lasse Vestergaard, an epidemiologist at the Danish research center Statens Serum Institut and coordinator of EuroMOMO.
Vestergaard urges caution when interpreting the latest figures, which are still preliminary. According to the organization, it takes four weeks for the estimates to be sufficiently consolidated.
The first national excess mortality figures have often been revised upwards since the end of the heat wave. These are the first signs of the human consequences of the exceptional heat peaks that are occurring more and more frequently. Without climate change, June’s heatwave would have been all but impossible, according to climatologists at World Weather Attribution.
Germany severely affected
Methods for counting excess deaths – more specifically, heat-related deaths – vary from country to country.
In Spain, the mortality surveillance system of the National Center of Epidemiology (MoMo) attributed 610 deaths to heat between June 22 and 28, almost two-thirds of which were among those over 85 years old.
In Germany, there were 5,780 additional deaths in the 26th calendar week of the year compared to the average of the four previous years, according to calculations based on figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared to the previous two weeks, Destatis counted 7,100 additional deaths.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German health authority, more people have died as a result of the heat in the country this summer than in the previous six years.
In France, more than 2,000 additional deaths were recorded in week 26 compared to the previous week, according to Santé publique France.
In Belgium, the state research institute Sciensano recorded 753 additional deaths on the days of June 27 and 28 alone, for a total of 1,747 between June 18 and July 1 – a national record during a 21st century heatwave.
Around 220 deaths in Switzerland
An AFP analysis using data from the Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) shows that there were almost 600 additional deaths in the Netherlands between June 22 and 28, and around 220 in Switzerland during the same period, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office. In Luxembourg, the Ministry of Health reported 23 additional deaths.
In a report on 54 major cities in Italy, health authorities have so far only found mortality “slightly above expectations” among people over 85 in the northern regions of the country at the end of the month.
Several Central and Eastern European countries that were also affected by the June heatwave have not yet published data, notably Slovakia and Hungary. (sda/afp)