Germany reports 5,120 heat-related deaths amid record June heatwave

Germany has recorded an estimated 5,120 heat-related deaths this year, and about 4,270 of the dead were aged 75 and older, in the Robert Koch Institute’s weekly heat-mortality report covering June 22-28. The country’s hottest days arrived just as temperatures across Europe surged.

The heat wave pushed Germany to a provisional all-time national temperature high of 41.7 degrees Celsius at Neißemünde-Coschen in Brandenburg on June 28, after record readings on June 26 and 27 as well. Across Western Europe, June 2026 was the hottest June on record, with an average temperature of 20.74 degrees, more than 3 degrees above the 1991-2020 June norm. Globally, it was the second-warmest June ever measured.

The World Health Organization recorded more than 1,300 excess deaths in Europe since the heat wave began around June 21, while national authorities recorded more than 4,700 excess deaths during the June 20-28 heat wave in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. In Cologne, Katharina Dröge of Alliance 90/The Greens said 120 people died during the June 27-28 heat-wave weekend alone, four times the usual number.

Green party leaders have pressed Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to move faster on climate and public-health protections. They have accused Merz of failing to comment quickly enough and of watering down climate policy as the government’s 2027 budget draft includes cuts and unclear funding lines for the Climate and Transformation Fund.

Heat periods in Germany regularly lead to higher mortality, and extreme heat is expected to increase as climate change intensifies. Heat can worsen cardiovascular, respiratory and kidney disease and can trigger serious side effects from some medicines.