Deaths surged 29% in France during week of record heat, health agency says

Santé publique France said France recorded 2,025 additional deaths in the week of June 22-28, 2026, during a record late-June heatwave, a 29.1% increase from the previous week.

The public health agency said the tally is still incomplete and should be treated as an early snapshot rather than the final heat-related death count. Even so, the new weekly estimate gives the clearest official picture yet of the mortality burden from the hottest stretch of the heatwave.

The agency’s preliminary count put total deaths at 8,973 in the week of June 22-28, compared with 6,948 in the week of June 15-21. That is the first fuller weekly estimate after an earlier June 29 figure suggested about 1,000 excess deaths during the peak days of June 24-26.

First fuller estimate

Public Health France said the data are based on electronic death certificates that cover only part of the total expected reporting for the period. Because of that, the latest tally is partial and likely understates the final mortality impact.

That uncertainty matters. The numbers show a sharp rise in deaths during the heatwave, but officials have not yet released the final retrospective analysis. More certificates are still expected to be processed.

The June 22-28 window was described as the hottest week of the late-June heatwave, with records broken across France. The mortality update therefore functions as the first broad official readout of what that extreme heat meant in terms of deaths.

Who was most affected

The burden was concentrated in the Paris region, which the agency said was the hardest hit. Reported mortality there rose by about 62.8% to 63% week over week, far above the national average.

Deaths at home rose especially sharply, by about 91% week over week. That suggests the heatwave hit people outside hospitals and care institutions particularly hard, including people who may have been living alone or without enough immediate support.

Deaths in care homes rose about 37%, while deaths in hospitals increased by about 19.7%, or nearly 20%. The pattern points to pressure across several settings at once rather than a single institutional failure.

Older adults accounted for most of the deaths. People aged 65 and older made up the largest share, and reporting cited by Le Monde said roughly 85% of the deceased were over 65.

Why it matters

France has a national heat-health surveillance system that tracks mortality and emergency-care indicators during hot weather. The new figures reinforce why that system exists: extreme heat can quickly translate into excess deaths, especially among older people.

The concentration of deaths at home also points to a longstanding challenge in heat protection. Hospitals and care homes can respond in a structured way, but vulnerable people outside those settings may be harder to reach when temperatures spike.

The 2003 France heatwave remains the central reference point for French heat-health planning and public discussion. The latest tally is likely to renew scrutiny of how well the country protects vulnerable residents during prolonged hot spells.

What comes next

Officials are expected to refine the mortality picture as more death certificates are processed and a fuller retrospective analysis is completed. That next update should help clarify the final excess-death total and the breakdown by age, region and setting.

French authorities have not yet announced any new heat-health policy changes in response to the latest figures. Any move to update prevention guidance or emergency planning would be a key follow-up for a story that is still developing.

Funeral services in Paris were also reported to be under strain as the number of deaths rose during the heatwave period, another sign that the impact extended beyond public health statistics.

For now, the official data point to a severe but still incomplete mortality toll from France’s late-June heatwave, with the strongest signals in the Paris region, among older adults and in deaths at home.