Germany heat deaths reach record 14,000 this summer

Germany recorded around 14,000 heat-related deaths this summer, a record in data kept by the Robert Koch Institute, the public health authority said Thursday.

The institute said about 9,600 of those deaths were recorded in one week in late June, when temperatures in Germany rose above 40C. The largest share of deaths was among people over 75.

The institute said heat can directly cause death in cases such as heatstroke, but most heat-related deaths involve heat exposure combined with pre-existing medical conditions. Because heat is usually not listed as the underlying cause on death certificates, the institute uses statistical methods to estimate heat-related mortality.

The previous record in the institute’s decade of heat-mortality data was 8,900 deaths in 2018. A separate medical publication had estimated 10,000 heat deaths in 1994.

The heatwaves came during a hot and dry European summer. Spain’s public health institute registered nearly 4,500 heat-related deaths since June 1, while French health authorities reported more than 7,300 excess deaths over the same period.

In Germany, heat and drought have also contributed to wildfires, reduced crop yields and lower water levels in major rivers used for cargo shipping.

Ministers from the centre-left Social Democrats, junior coalition partners to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives, said Berlin should put climate adaptation and nature conservation into the Basic Law. They also urged changes to urban planning, building codes and labour laws for work in high temperatures.

The German Association of Towns and Municipalities said hospitals and nursing homes need more support to cope with extreme heat. Its president Ralph Spiegler estimated hospitals alone need at least 20 billion euros in investment, including air conditioning for patients and staff.

Former health minister Karl Lauterbach said the true heat-death toll may be higher because the Robert Koch Institute uses what he called a conservative methodology.