Official figures indicate that European nations recorded over 10,000 excess deaths during the record-breaking heatwave that swept across the western part of the continent in late June.
According to figures released by EuroMOMO, a network supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization, the overwhelming majority — over 9,000 cases — occurred among individuals aged 65 and older.
Extreme heat can be fatal, leading to heat stroke and worsening heart and breathing conditions, with older adults among those at greatest risk.
"To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high," Lasse Vestergaard, Chief Physician at Denmark's Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO, told Reuters.
"It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat," Vestergaard added.
Scientists report that the late June heatwave would have been "almost impossible" without human-driven climate change, which is causing heatwaves to occur more often and with greater intensity.
The dataset, based on national mortality records from 27 European countries, encompassed excess deaths from all causes—not just those associated with heat—during the week of June 22 to 28, when the heatwave was at its peak in France, Spain, Britain, and several other nations..
However, scientists stated that there were no other identified major influences, such as COVID-19 outbreaks, that could have driven the increase to 10,650 excess deaths during that week.
Across those same European countries, total mortality over the past eight weeks has averaged roughly 500 fewer deaths per week than is normally expected. The EuroMOMO figures may be updated in the coming weeks as additional information becomes available.
The intense late-June heatwave disrupted electricity networks, forced school closures, and broke temperature records across France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
EuroMOMO does not release excess mortality figures for each individual country, but it reported that France and Belgium were the only European nations to record "very high excess" deaths in the final week of June.
Belgium recorded its highest level of excess mortality during a heatwave since at least 2000, according to the national public health institute Sciensano.
A distinct scientific study released on Monday estimated that 2,700 people in England and Wales died from heat-related causes during the May and June heatwaves.