The number of deaths was almost 30% higher than the previous week, with a significant impact in the Île de France region (Paris), where the mortality rate increased by 62%. Deaths at the homes of elderly people rose by 91% compared to the weekly average for the month of June.
The Health Minister, Stéphanie Rist, acknowledged on Friday that this is an "underestimation" of the final impact of the heatwave, as the number of deaths is based on electronic death certificates (representing approximately half of the deaths in the country).
Nevertheless, Rist stated that the figures are "not comparable" to the 2003 heatwave that caused 14,800 deaths, mainly among the elderly. The minister responded to alarming reports by environmentalists estimating the number of deaths at 10,000 and announcing a motion of censure against the centrist government of Sébastien Lecornu next week for the lack of preparedness and poor crisis management.
Concerns about drownings
Another alarming figure during the first summer heatwave in France was the 90 drownings in rivers and unsupervised swimming areas, mostly involving young people like the 21-year-old footballer Kenzo Kies from the second division team Avant Guingamp, who died near Lyon.
"This is a worrying figure correlated with a heat peak where people seek cooler temperatures," acknowledged the Sports Minister Marina Ferrari. "There is no typical profile, although in the early days there were many young people engaging in risky behaviours, such as jumping from a bridge or swimming in an unsupervised canal."
In the summer of 2025, 409 people drowned in France, 57% of them children and teenagers. The minister emphasized the need for lifeguards, the lack of outdoor pools, and "the revitalization of open water swimming, where many accidents occur that do not happen in pools."
Among the victims of the heatwave are at least four children who died inside cars and the case of two twins who died from dehydration in the family home in Beuvrages: their parents have been taken into police custody, accused of "neglect."
Météo France officially declared the end of the heatwave but warned of a possible second wave between the 6th and 13th of June, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees from Monday onwards.
Meanwhile, six departments in the French Riviera in the south of the country are on red alert due to the serious risk of wildfires. Fires have consumed over a thousand hectares of forest during the week between Perpignan and Marseille. The Interior Minister, Laurent Núñez, travelled on Friday to oversee the firefighting efforts in the largest fire declared to date in the Aude department.