Authorities describe the excess mortality as “unprecedented.” The deaths involved people aged 15 and over during the period from June 17 to July 2, when one of the worst heat waves the country has ever experienced was underway.
The people are reported to have died from several different causes that cannot yet be definitively linked to the heat wave.
Throughout last summer, France reported 5,722 heat-related deaths above normal.
In the Paris region, 3,000 people died between June 22 and 28 this year, 1,565 more deaths than the average mortality rate. Over 80 percent of them were people over 65 years old.
June this year was one of the warmest months recorded in France since 1947, according to the weather agency Météo-France.
Corrected: In an earlier version of the text, we incorrectly wrote which month is the warmest ever measured.
