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Paris has become the deadliest city in Europe

undefined undefined 3 septembre 2025 undefined 17h00

The Editor

© Songquan Deng / Shutterstock

It's the bad news of the back-to-school season. While last year, the French capital shone around the world thanks to the Olympics, this summer, the trend is reversing, and it's a much darker title that sets Paris apart from its European neighbors: the title of the deadliest city during a heatwave.

In recent years, heatwaves have been increasing across Europe, including in Paris. One of the consequences of climate change, which unfortunately can have dramatic effects on the residents of the City of Light. The rather alarming figures from this new scientific study published by The Lancet highlight the increased risk of mortality in case of very high temperatures in the capital.


A death rate breaking all records

As the planet gets increasingly worse, and we dangerously approach the 2°C additional limit set by the Paris Agreement, the temperatures s are rising...

e are becoming more and more in big cities, leading to increasingly hot summers, but also to colder winters. Extreme temperatures, putting citizens' lives at risk. To assess the situation, a study published in The Lancet examined the impact of these heatwaves in over 850 European cities since 2000.

And the result is clear. For a quarter of a century, Paris has experienced a 127% excess mortality rate during the heatwave periods, especially in the summer of 2003, making it, by far, the most dangerous city in summer. Conversely, the study also helps to identify the deadliest city during extreme cold spells, and this time it’s the English capital, London. The data, gathered from reliable sources like NASA and Copernicus, highlights an unprecedented urgency to take action.


Solutions to be implemented as soon as possible

So, what explains this unenviable position? It's quite simple! Thanks to a urban planning that is very poorly adapted to high temperatures, like those in cities further south, Paris is feeling the heat. The high population density and Haussmannian architecture exacerbate elevated temperatures, along with the scarcity of green spaces. However, the Paris city hall is already working on solutions. For example, there’s the multiplication of cool islands and other urban forests, along with a brand new Rain Plan unveiled this summer. In any case, we hope for a quick turnaround in this trend!