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Germany registered a record 16,300 heat-related deaths during Europe's severe summer heatwaves, according to official data released Thursday.
Countries across Europe have recorded more than 30,000 excess deaths during the back-to-back heatwaves and drought that scientists have linked to human-caused climate change, with figures still being revised as summer draws to a close.
The German figure increased from 15,800 deaths reported the previous week by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's public health authority. The latest data cover June 1 through Aug. 23, a period one week longer than the prior report.
Other European countries have reported comparable tolls. France recorded roughly 7,300 heat-related deaths plus 301 drowning deaths, while Spain logged 4,947 deaths, marking its worst heat year on record, according to national estimates.
England recorded 2,877 heat-related deaths across May and June heatwaves, and Belgium estimated 2,570 excess deaths between June 18 and July 17, according to the Sciensano public health institute.
The largest share of Germany's heat-related deaths occurred among people aged 75 and older, the RKI said in a statement.
The institute estimated that 9,600 of the deaths occurred during the week of June 22-28, marking the deadliest single week of the period.
The RKI said it has tracked heat mortality data for the past decade. The previous record stood at 8,900 heat-related deaths, recorded in 2018. A separate estimate from a medical publication put the death toll from a 1994 heatwave at 10,000.
The extreme heat was compounded by severe drought across the continent, which fueled wildfires and strained healthcare systems, according to weather and climate researchers.
Consecutive overnight lows that stayed well above normal levels limited the body's ability to recover from daytime heat stress, a factor researchers say made this summer's heatwaves especially dangerous.
Dry soil conditions also reduced the land's natural cooling capacity, intensifying subsequent heatwaves in a self-reinforcing cycle.
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