Austria Records Highest Number of Heat Related Deaths Ever
2 sources across 2 countries · Germany · Norway
Who reported this
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- Aftenposten
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every outlet covering this story shares the same political lean; read with that in mind.
Austria recorded 646 heat related deaths during June and July, marking the highest number of such fatalities ever registered in the country. The Austrian Agency for Health Services (Ages) announced the figures on Sunday, noting that the previous record was 570 deaths during the same months in 2024. These figures were calculated using a statistical model designed to analyze excess mortality.
The country experienced record temperatures this summer, including a new national high of 41.2 degrees Celsius in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. Similar trends were observed across Europe, where long periods of heat and drought occurred. In Germany, heat related deaths reached nearly 12,000 by the end of July according to the Robert Koch Institute, while other reports indicate 14,000 deaths between April and August. Other European nations including France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland also saw increases in registered deaths.
Both reports attribute these extreme weather events to global warming and human made climate change, noting that Europe is the fastest warming continent. The World Health Organization stated in May that heat related mortality in the European region has increased by more than 30 percent over the last 20 years due to the climate crisis and an aging population.
How each side framed it
- Centre-right
- The outlets framed the record deaths as a direct consequence of human made climate change and the rapid warming of the European continent.
Sources
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.