Spain posts record number of heat-related deaths in May

MADRID: The deaths of 101 people in Spain in May were heat-related, the highest number for the month since such records started being kept in 2015, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

“This figure is 3.6 times higher than the average number of heat-related deaths recorded in May over the past decade,” the ministry said in a statement, stressing “the significant health impact of heat episodes, even before the start of summer”.

Temperature records for the month were broken in several Spanish cities in late May, particularly in the north, according to the national meteorological agency Aemet, which said the figures marked “extraordinarily high temperatures for a month of May”.

Overall, from 2015, when data collection began, up to the summer of 2025, the deaths of 27,564 people were “attributable to high temperatures” in the country, the ministry said.

The year 2022 was the deadliest, with 4,789 heat-attributable deaths, followed by 2025 with 3,832. Spain then experienced its hottest summer on record, with an average temperature of 24.2°C, according to Aemet.

Several countries in Europe recorded their hottest-ever May days this year as a heatwave smashed records across the continent.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying extremes, with weather events like heatwaves, droughts and floods becoming more intense and frequent.