During the heatwave that swept across France from June 17 to July 2, a total of 5,764 additional deaths were recorded. According to the National Public Health Authority, these figures represent an excess mortality rate of 36 percent.
More than half of these additional fatalities, specifically 56 percent, occurred between June 25 and June 27. The Authority noted that in all age groups aged 15 and older, there was an “unprecedented increase in overall mortality,” with the number of deaths rising significantly particularly in individuals aged 45 and over. People aged 75 and older accounted for approximately two-thirds of the identified heat deaths, with at least 3,719 additional fatalities in that group alone.
Heatwaves are becoming stronger and more likely due to man-made global warming. This effect will continue to escalate so long as additional greenhouse gases-such as those released from burning coal, oil, and gas-are added to the atmosphere.
An analysis conducted by the scientific initiative World Weather Attribution (WWA) indicated that the temperatures experienced during the late June 2026 heatwave would have been “practically impossible” in 1976, and would remain highly unlikely in any other season. Furthermore, in 2003, when the first major heatwave of the century occurred, such high daily maximum temperatures were still very rare, and nighttime temperatures like those recorded this June would have been more than a hundred times less probable.
