At least 12,000 more people died than expected across Europe during the exceptional heatwave of late June, according to a compilation of national mortality data by Agence France-Presse. The toll, drawn from official statistics in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, covers the period when all-time temperature records were shattered in several countries.

The excess deaths were concentrated among the elderly. In Spain, nearly two-thirds of the 610 heat-attributed fatalities were over 85, while Italy’s health ministry reported a 3 per cent rise in mortality among the over-65s between 25 May and 30 June, an increase it described as contained and statistically significant only in Turin. Germany’s federal statistics office recorded 5,780 excess deaths in the week of 22–28 June compared with the average of the four previous years; the Robert Koch Institute noted that more people had died from heat so far this summer than in any of the preceding six years.

The figures remain provisional and are likely to be revised upwards. The European mortality monitoring network EuroMOMO, drawing on data from 24 countries covering some 400 million people, put the excess for the final week of June at 14,260 – the highest for any June week since its harmonised records began in 2020. Its coordinator, Lasse Vestergaard, cautioned that it takes four weeks for estimates to consolidate. Several central and eastern European states hit by the heatwave have yet to release provisional data, and the distinction between all-cause excess mortality and deaths directly attributed to heat complicates comparisons: the World Health Organization separately cited more than 1,300 heat-linked fatalities in Europe since 21 June.

The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge, urged governments to treat heat as a health emergency rather than a meteorological event, warning that the summer was not over. Climate scientists from the World Weather Attribution group said the June heat would have been virtually impossible without human-caused climate change. Viewed from the Middle East, where populations routinely endure temperatures above 50°C, the lethal effect of 30–35°C heat in Europe has drawn attention to differences in infrastructure, acclimatisation, and the low prevalence of air conditioning. Within Europe, Italian authorities stressed that their excess mortality was limited compared with other nations, a pattern they attributed to early-warning systems and public health measures. The provisional toll is expected to rise as more complete data emerges from national statistical offices.