A woman protects herself from the sun with an umbrella as she walks in the Syntagma square in Athens on July 21, 2026. Temperatures in several areas in Greece exceeded 40 degrees Celsius for the first time this year, with the country experiencing its first heatwave. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
France recorded 5,764 more deaths than usual during a record-breaking heatwave last month, health authorities said on Wednesday, describing the excess mortality among people aged 15 and older as “unprecedented”.
It was the highest excess mortality rate during a heatwave in the country since a devastating episode of high temperatures in 2003 that killed around 15,000 people, they added.
Three heatwaves have swept across France since May, the latest in increasingly frequent such extreme weather events that scientists have linked to man-made climate change.
The soaring temperatures caused havoc in a country where many homes, schools and hospitals are not designed for heat and do not have air conditioning.
