A woman cools off near a fountain during a heatwave in Ronda on August 17, 2025. Spain is entering its third week of heatwave alerts and firefighters are continuing to battle blazes in the northwest and west of the country, with army units deployed to help contain the flames. Photo / Jorge Guerrero, AFP
A woman cools off near a fountain during a heatwave in Ronda on August 17, 2025. Spain is entering its third week of heatwave alerts and firefighters are continuing to battle blazes in the northwest and west of the country, with army units deployed to help contain the flames. Photo / Jorge Guerrero, AFP
More than 1100 deaths in Spain have been linked to a 16-day heatwave that ended on Monday, according to an estimate released on Tuesday by the Carlos III Health Institute.
Officials reported 1149 excess deaths in Spain from August 3-18 that could be attributed to the scorching temperatures, the publichealth agency said.
The institute used data from Spain’s Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo) that was compared to historical trends.
It also incorporates external factors, such as weather data from the national meteorological agency AEMET, to assess likely causes of mortality spikes.
Although MoMo cannot confirm a direct cause between deaths and high temperatures, it provides the most reliable estimate of fatalities in which heat was likely a decisive factor.
