Austria estimates nearly 1,000 heat-related deaths over summer — Anadolu Agency

In Austria, an estimated 995 people died from heat-related causes from June to August 2026. This is the highest figure since such estimates began in 2017, Anadolu Agency reports, citing the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES).

Highest figure since 2017

AGES stressed that this is a statistical estimate of mortality for the entire three-month period, rather than a current list of individual deaths directly caused by high temperatures. The methodology also takes into account that the effects of extreme heat on mortality may become apparent over the following days. Due to delays in receiving underlying data, estimates for individual periods may be revised later.

For comparison, AGES estimated the number of heat-related deaths at 948 for June through August 2024 and at 428 for the same period in 2025. Since 2017, the lowest estimate was recorded in 2020, with 324 deaths, while the previous high was 948 in 2024.

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Record-hot summer

The higher mortality estimate coincided with Austria's hottest summer in 260 years of temperature observations. New temperature records were registered at more than 100 monitoring stations of GeoSphere Austria.

On August 5, the temperature reached 41.2 degrees Celsius in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in the federal state of Lower Austria. This was the first time since observations began that the temperature in the country exceeded 41 degrees. During the summer, the 40-degree mark was exceeded on three days, and the highest number of hot days on record was also registered.