European heatwave causes over 10,000 excess deaths

A record‑breaking heatwave that swept western Europe in the last week of June 2026 led to more than 10,000 excess deaths, according to EuroMOMO data from 27 countries. The excess mortality peaked during the week of 22‑28 June, with over 9,000 of the additional deaths occurring among people aged 65 and older. Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, said, "To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high," adding that the increase is difficult to explain by anything other than the extreme heat.

Scientists linked the severity of the wave to human‑induced climate change, noting that such a prolonged high‑pressure event would have been "virtually impossible" without it. The heat disrupted power supplies, forced school closures and shattered temperature records in France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

A separate study by Imperial College London, the UK Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated that England and Wales alone saw about 2,700 excess deaths during the May and June heatwaves, with 42 % attributable to the additional warming caused by climate change.

Other heat‑related impacts included nearly 100 drowning deaths in Germany as people flocked to lakes and rivers, underscoring the broader public‑health toll of the extreme temperatures across the continent.