the heat of summer 2023 is responsible for more than 5,000 deaths, announces Public Health France

A murderous summer. More than 5,000 people died due to heat in France during the summer of 2023, marked by particularly late heatwaves, according to a report published Thursday February 8 by Public Health France. “Three out of 100 deaths observed during the summer are attributable to heat, which represents a little more than 5,000 deaths”summarized Guillaume Boulanger, researcher at the health agency, at a press conference.

This estimate – which stands at precisely 5,167 deaths – concerns the entire period between June 1 and September 15, including excluding the four heatwave episodes observed that summer. Over these periods alone, around 1,500 deaths are attributed to heat, or one in ten.

The fourth hottest summer ever observed in France

Despite long periods of gloomy weather, the summer of 2023 ranks as the fourth hottest ever observed in France – the first measurements dating back to 1900 – in a context marked by a global acceleration of extreme heat episodes, against a backdrop of warming climate caused by human activities. The heatwaves of 2023 were particularly notable for the late nature of two of them: the longest, in August, then a last one in September.

As measured by Public Health France, heat-related mortality is at one of the highest levels in recent years. It is only exceeded by the 7,000 deaths recorded the previous year, in 2022, and the 15,000 deaths attributed to the exceptional heatwave of 2003.