France records nearly 8,000 excess deaths amid repeated heatwaves

France recorded at least 817 excess deaths during a prolonged heat period from July 27 to August 20, bringing the provisional total linked to a succession of heatwaves since late May to nearly 8,000. The estimate includes deaths from all causes and does not establish that extreme heat caused each death; final figures could rise as more complete data become available. People ages 75 and older accounted for most of the excess mortality, including during the deadliest heatwave from June 17 to July 2, which produced 5,764 excess deaths, followed by 1,243 from July 3 to 20. French authorities described the summer as the country’s hottest in more than a century, while meteorologists linked the increasingly intense and prolonged heat to human-caused climate change.