Deaths in France surged by nearly 30% during the hottest week of the record-breaking June heatwave that scorched much of Europe, the public health authority reported. Public Health France said on Friday there had been “an increase of 29.1%, corresponding to 2,025 additional deaths compared with the previous week.” The agency cautioned that the figure was probably “an underestimate” and that “mortality will rise further.”
Updated Figures Double Earlier Estimates
The new and still incomplete figures doubled the preliminary estimate of at least 1,000 additional deaths given by the authority the previous Sunday. That earlier estimate covered just three of the hottest days of extreme heat. The updated tally covers the week of 22 to 28 June, during which France registered its hottest-ever days, with previous day- and night-time highs shattered in cities and towns across the country. Hundreds of records also fell in other parts of Europe.
Impact Across Europe
Belgium’s health ministry reported excess mortality of about 1,200 between 18 and 29 June, with 530 of the deaths among people aged 85 or older. The Dutch government said the heatwave led to about 480 excess deaths, mainly of elderly people. All-time temperature records were broken in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czechia and Hungary, as well as June records in the UK and Switzerland. France recorded its hottest June since records began in 1947, averaging 3.8°C above seasonal norms for 1991 to 2020, according to Météo-France.
Demographics and Regional Impact
Public Health France said it had counted 8,973 deaths so far for that week but cautioned that the number was still only partial. The preliminary total was 29% more than the 6,948 deaths registered for the previous week of 15-21 June. The increase was concentrated almost entirely among people aged 45 and over, with the over-65s worst-affected. “Although we are seeing a clear rise among 45- to 64-year-olds, people aged 65 and over account for the largest share of deaths,” the agency said. Deaths in the home recorded the biggest increase, nearly doubling within a single week. Paris was the worst-affected region; the number of deaths recorded in the capital rose by 62% week-on-week.
Hospital and Expert Assessments
Nicolas Revel, director general of the Paris public hospital system, said he expected the death toll from the June heatwave to be lower than that of 2003, but “probably” higher than an extreme heat episode last year that claimed 5,700 lives. The June event affected more than two-thirds of Europeans with temperatures exceeding 35°C, according to AFP, which based its calculations on temperature data from the European Drought Observatory and population figures from the Joint Research Centre. The news agency said areas inhabited by about 410 million people in Europe were affected, including almost the entire population of mainland France and more than three-quarters of the combined populations of Spain and Italy.
