France: 8,000 excess deaths after a summer of intense and almost continuous heatwaves

The hottest summer ever experienced by France since 1900, with its almost uninterrupted succession of heat waves, has caused nearly 8,000 excess deaths, according to provisional data from health authorities.

During the longest heat wave ever recorded in the country, from July 27 to August 20, at least 817 excess deaths – which cannot yet be attributed to the heat with certainty – were recorded by Public Health France (SpF), which released its new report on Wednesday.

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This third heat wave of the summer, which affected nearly 901,300 of the French population, was less deadly than the previous two.

The 817 more deaths than expected are in addition to the 5,764 estimated deaths from June 17 to July 2, the 1,243 from July 3 to 20 and the 95 during a brief heat spike before summer, from May 24 to 28.

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This toll is, however, bound to rise: the figures still need to be consolidated – data collection is not yet complete – and it does not take into account the entire summer – the monitoring period runs from June 1st to September 15th.

An almost continuous heatwave

“ This summer of 2026 was completely unprecedented, with almost continuous heatwave episodes.«,« Guillaume Boulanger, head of the quality of living environments, work and population health unit at SpF, told AFP. Normally, heatwave days represent« around 5% of the summer«" , This year, "« we will be clearly above«" he predicted.

According to Météo-France, the summer of 2026 was the hottest since 1900, ahead of the summers of 2003, whose heavy health impact, with its 15,000 deaths, had the effect of an electric shock, but also 2022.

Climate change, caused primarily by the burning of coal, oil and gas linked to human activities, increases the likelihood of experiencing such episodes of very intense, very long and very geographically widespread heat waves.

This summer, these heatwaves have affected, beyond France, "« mainly Western Europe: Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy«", noted Mr. Boulanger, recalling that counting methods differ from one country to another and complicate comparisons.

«"75 years and older"»

While previous episodes had also affected younger populations, this time it is "« almost exclusively people aged 75 and over«"751 more deaths than expected were recorded in this age group, the health agency noted.

Nearly half of these excess deaths recorded during 25 days of heatwave occurred in three days, from August 14 to 16, just after the two days of« the most intense »"by their temperatures and occurring on "« the largest area of the territory«" , explained Robin Lagarrigue, scientific studies officer at SpF.

Apart from Normandy and Occitanie, all regions experienced excess mortality from all causes. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, with 140 excess deaths, was the most affected, impacted by one of the longest exposure periods during this episode.

Unlike previous summer heatwave episodes, excess mortality does not appear to have been more pronounced at home: about half of the deaths were recorded in hospitals, compared to 25% at home and a little over 20% in nursing homes/retirement homes.

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The government accused of being unprepared

However, nursing homes are sometimes considered the deceased's residence, and some deaths can occur in hospitals after exposure at home or in a nursing home. Therefore, caution is advised at this stage in interpreting the data.

Of the three heat waves of the summer, the first (June 17 to July 2) was marked by about 4.5 times more excess deaths than the second and by seven times more than the third.

Hypotheses to explain this difference: its very intense nature, but also its early occurrence. In June, organisms were not yet acclimatized to the heat, and activity (work, school, etc.) was still high.

In addition, the most vulnerable people (elderly, with chronic illnesses, poor housing conditions, etc.) may have died as early as the beginning of the summer.

After the publication of the first figures, which are gradually becoming more precise, the mortality figures for the periods of intense heat in 2026 have fueled a fierce political battle in the run-up to the presidential election, with the government being accused of unpreparedness by the opposition.

A final assessment is expected in early 2027. The health effects are not limited to heat waves alone, excess mortality is generally observed as soon as the average daily temperature exceeds 25°C.