Europe’s summer heatwaves kill at least 35,000 people

Europe has recorded at least 35,000 excess deaths during a summer of back-to-back heatwaves, a toll that rivals the catastrophic 2003 season and is expected to climb further as August mortality data remains incomplete. Germany, France, and Spain account for the bulk of the fatalities, while drought has reduced the continent's major rivers to historic lows and devastated crops from Hungary to England.reuters+1

The Death Toll

According to an AFP tally of national health authority figures, at least 33,000 excess deaths were recorded across just eight countries — Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain — with the broader EuroMomo monitoring platform estimating more than 32,000 excess deaths between mid-July and mid-August alone.phys

Germany reported 14,000 heat-related deaths through August 9, the highest figure since the Robert Koch Institute began tracking in 2016. France logged 7,300 excess deaths between late May and July 22, a toll officials say will rise once later data is counted. Spain recorded nearly 4,500 deaths blamed on heat between June 1 and August 19, the highest for that period since 2022.caliber+1

The deadliest single week came at the end of June, when nearly 16,000 excess deaths were recorded across Europe during what researchers called the most extreme heat event the continent has ever experienced.zenodo+1

Rivers and Drought

The prolonged heat has also drained Europe's waterways to historic lows. The Rhine fell to record-low levels in Germany and the Netherlands, disrupting shipping of chemicals, oil products, and other goods. The Danube measured just nine inches deep in Budapest, while sections of Italy's Po River also hit record summertime lows and France's Loire shrank to a fraction of its normal volume.nytimes+2

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission warned in late July that intense heat had further depleted already low soil moisture, with the strongest agricultural impacts observed in Hungary, where yield forecasts for grain maize and sunflowers were cut sharply. Around 99 percent of Hungary's land area is currently under severe or extreme drought conditions, according to ABC News.joint-research-centre.europa+1

A Crisis Compounding

The World Health Organization has said heat-related deaths in its European region have increased by more than 30 percent over the past two decades, driven by more frequent heatwaves and an ageing population. The Copernicus Climate Change Service recorded western Europe's hottest June on record in 2026, with temperatures more than 3 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 average.news9live+1

The provisional toll puts the summer of 2026 on par with 2003, when roughly 35,000 died — but this year's figure covers only part of the continent and does not yet include complete August data.phys+1