More than 1,000 people died from heat-related causes during the recent heat wave in Spain, as the country recorded its hottest first half of the year on record, officials said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Spain’s Carlos III Health Institute said in a report that at least 1,028 heat-related deaths were reported during the heat wave last month.<\/p>\n
This number was more than double the 407 recorded in June 2025. This was also the most deaths attributed to heat in June since 2015.<\/p>\n
On June 23, \u200cat the peak of the heat wave<\/a>, 35.7 million people, which made up roughly 73% of Spain’s population, \u200cwere \u200bexposed to health risks<\/p>\n Spain’s national weather agency Aemet said in a post on X that last month was the country’s second-hottest June on record, with temperatures averaging 3.2 degree Celsius above normal.<\/p>\n “The first half of 2026 becomes the warmest for the whole of Spain since records began, with a temperature 1.6 degrees Celsius above normal,” Aemet posted.<\/p>\n Severe heat wave grips Europe<\/p>\n The recent heat wave, which scorched much of Europe, was the continent’s most severe on record.<\/p>\n Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) have broken records in France, Germany and other European countries.<\/p>\n The World Health Organization (WHO) has blamed the heat wave for more than 1,300 additional deaths across Europe, with that number likely to rise.<\/p>\n The extreme heat broke all-time temperature records in several European countries, including Germany<\/a>, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, with France experiencing its highest-ever nighttime temperatures.<\/p>\n What do scientists say?<\/p>\n