The heat wave at the end of June has cost thousands of people their lives in Germany. Alongside record temperatures of more than 41 degrees Celsius in some areas during the last week of June, around 23,900 people died, 7,100 more than two weeks earlier, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden reported on Tuesday. Death numbers in the week from June 22 to 28 were therefore 32 percent above the comparative figure from previous years.
According to preliminary figures, around 243,600 people died in Germany in total during the second quarter. With the exception of the last week of June, death numbers mostly stayed within the range of the average figures from the previous four years, or noticeably below them. In April, death numbers were five percent below the previous years' figures, and in May they were two percent lower.
Death numbers in June, shaped by the heat period, were nine percent above the comparative figure for the years 2022 to 2025. According to the statistics authority, it is a well-known effect in the summer months that the physical strain associated with heat is high, and that death numbers rise as a result.
The statistics authority had previously spoken of around 6,800 heat-related deaths at the end of June in initial estimates, and has now revised this figure further upward. The Robert Koch Institute stated last week that there had been at least 5,100 heat-related deaths in Germany.
2018 and 2019 were the years with the highest heat-related death numbers to date, with 8,400 and 6,900 heat deaths respectively. In the years 2022 to 2025, there were an estimated 2,600 to 4,900 heat deaths each year.
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