High temperatures caused 1,180 deaths in Spain in the past two months, a sharp increase from the same period last year, the country’s Environment Ministry has revealed. The deaths occurred between May 16 and July 13, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute, a period marked by intense heatwaves.
The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria – all located in the northern half of the country, where traditionally cooler summer temperatures have seen a significant rise in recent years. The vast majority of people who died were over 65 and over half were women, the data cited showed. The 1,180 people who died marked a huge increase compared to the 114 who died in the same period in 2024. The number of deaths increased significantly during the first week of July.
Like much of Western Europe, Spain has been hit by extreme heat in recent weeks, with temperatures often topping 40C. In the period the data covers, there were 76 red alerts for extreme heat, compared with none a year earlier.
After the country recorded its hottest June on record, with the mercury hitting 46C in El Granado, Helva on June 28, a new heatwave descended in July. Weather maps dated for mid-July showed much of the country covered in dark red, with temperatures rarely below 32C.
The data shows an event “of exceptional intensity, characterized by an unprecedented increase in average temperatures and a significant increase in mortality attributable to heatwaves”, the ministry said.
Last summer, 2,191 deaths were attributed to heat-related causes in Spain, according to the health institute. The data from Spain follows a rapid scientific analysis published on July 9 that said around 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave in the 10 days to July 2.
It was not immediately clear whether the study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was using the same methodology as the Spanish data.
Meanwhile, in the UK, an extra 263 people in London died during the recent heatwave, scientists have estimated. This comes as a warning that the climate crisis has tripled the number of heat-related deaths across European cities. The heatwaves were up to 4C hotter across cities compared to a world without the climate crisis, the study from the World Weather Attribution group of researchers said.
