France’s public health agency announced Wednesday that at least 5,700 more people died than would normally be expected during a record-setting heatwave that gripped the country last month.
According to Public Health France, regions affected by the extreme heat between June 17 and July 2 recorded a total of 21,674 deaths from all causes. Under normal conditions, statistical models based on data from prior years would have predicted roughly 15,910 deaths in those same areas during that time period.
The gap between those two figures — 5,764 deaths — is classified as “excess” mortality directly linked to the heatwave, the agency explained.
Officials noted that the 36% surge above expected death totals represents the deadliest heatwave France has experienced since 2003, when a similar extreme heat event claimed an estimated 15,000 lives across the country.
France broke its own temperature records on June 24 and June 25 of this year, with a nationwide daily average hitting 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Nighttime temperatures also reached record highs, while peak readings in many locations climbed well beyond 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
More than half of the excess deaths were concentrated in just a three-day window — from June 25 through June 27 — which coincided with and immediately followed the most intense period of the heat, the public health agency reported.
