An estimated 2,877 people in Britain have died from heat-related causes so far this year, nearly double the total recorded during all of 2025 and approaching the record set in 2022, the country's health authorities said on Thursday.
A fourth heatwave this year is sweeping through Britain after a series of unusually hot spells pushed temperatures to record May and June highs in some parts of the country. The prolonged dry weather has also fuelled wildfires.
The UK Health Security Agency said an estimated 753 deaths were associated with the May heatwave and a further 2,124 with the June episode, which triggered a rare red heat-health alert.
Based on the interim data, the agency said it is likely that 2026 could see the highest number of heat-associated deaths on record, surpassing the 2,985 recorded in 2022, when temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius to break all previous records.
"These figures highlight the significant danger that very hot weather can pose to people's health," Ross Thompson, principal environmental public health scientist at UKHSA, who authored the report, said in the statement.
Extreme heat has also fuelled major wildfires in France, Spain and Greece that have killed firefighters, forced mass evacuations and disrupted businesses and travel.
France's national health agency said on Wednesday that there had been 5,764 excess deaths in the country between June 17 and July 2, while Germany's RKI health body said on Thursday that an estimated 9,800 people had died so far this year from heat-related causes.
HOT WEATHER TO BECOME LONGER AND MORE EXTREME
Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are more vulnerable to hot weather, the agency said.
Health minister Yvette Cooper said the heat had also had "a serious impact" on the National Health Service, which has historically faced its heaviest strain during winter months.
Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with Thursday's temperatures showing the region was the furthest from its historical norm of any continent, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.
Thompson said it was vital that individuals, communities and systems were prepared to deal with higher temperatures and that vulnerable people were protected.
"As the climate becomes warmer, we can expect periods of hot weather to become longer, more frequent and more extreme," he said.
