France recorded at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during a historic heatwave last month, the country’s public health agency said on Wednesday, sharply raising its estimate of the toll from the record-breaking temperatures.
Public Health France said regions affected by the heat from June 17 to July 2 recorded 21,674 deaths from all causes. Based on statistical modelling using data from previous years, those same regions would have been expected to see 15,910 deaths without a heatwave.
The gap between the expected and actual number of deaths, 5,764 in total, is therefore being treated as ‘excess’ deaths during the heatwave, the agency said. It added that excess mortality was 36 per cent higher than normally expected, making it the highest for any heatwave since 2003, when an estimated 15,000 people died in France.
France registered its hottest-ever days on June 24 and June 25 this year, with a national average of 30°C. The country also recorded unusually high night-time temperatures, while peak temperatures rose well above 40°C in many places. The agency said just over half of the unexpected deaths occurred during and immediately after the hottest spell, over the three days from June 25 to June 27.
The Paris region appears to have been hit the hardest, with 1,999 unexpected deaths, about 80 per cent more than would otherwise have been expected without a heatwave. Nearly half of the more than 21,600 people who died were in hospitals, while about a third died at home. Most of the remaining deaths were in care homes for older people.
The figures show the scale of the impact of the June heatwave, with deaths rising far above normal levels across the affected regions, especially during the peak of the extreme temperatures.
