From Nigeria to Japan and from Pakistan to Spain, June had record heatwave in 12 countries and extremely high temperatures in 26 others, according to calculations by Agence France-Presse based on data from the European Copernicus project.

A total of 790 million people in 12 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa experienced unprecedented temperatures for June. For 26 other countries, the month was the second hottest on record, including China, France, the United Kingdom, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia.

The extreme heat waves, a result of climate change, result of climate change increasing the intensity and frequency of heat waves.

Residents in southern and western Europe experienced an early heat wave in late June, which tested local populations not used to such extreme temperatures, such as in the Paris region of France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Fifteen countries, including Switzerland, Italy, and the whole of the Balkans, experienced temperatures 3°C above normal for the season. Spain, Bosnia, and Montenegro also experienced the warmest June on record.

Before Europe, Japan experienced a wave of heat from mid-June and the warmest June since records began being kept in 1898. Temperatures in the archipelago’s coastal waters were 1.20°C above normal for the season, equaling the record set in June 2024.

These records are being set while the country has already experienced its hottest summer in 2024 — as well as 2023 — which gave the ‘baton’ to the hottest autumn on record. The iconic peak of Mount Fuji was covered in snow in early November, a month later than usual.

In the Asia-Pacific region, South and North Korea also experienced the warmest June on record, with temperatures nearly 2°C above normal for the season.

In China, 102 weather stations recorded daily record-breaking heat in June, with some temperatures exceeding 40°C, according to state media.

Pakistan, with a population of 250 million, and Tajikistan, with a population of 10 million, also recorded record temperatures for the month of June. These temperatures come on the heels of an exceptionally warm spring for all of central Asia, and in addition to these two countries, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan also experienced the warmest spring (April-June) on record.

Depending on the country, the thermometer rose 2°C to 4°C above the average spring temperature for 1981-2010, with temperatures occasionally exceeding 50°C in some arid regions.

Nigeria, the world’s sixth most populous country with 230 million people, tied its record for June temperature, set in 2024.

In other countries in the Sahel and Equatorial Africa, including the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia, this June was the second hottest on record based on available data, just behind June 2024.

South Sudan, where temperatures were 2.1°C above normal for June, had already experienced a first heatwave in March, which is usually the hottest month of the year. The heat had already forced the government to close schools, an unprecedented measure for this unstable and poor country.

“Extreme temperatures and the effects of warming are affecting all sectors of Africa’s socio-economic development and exacerbating hunger, insecurity and population displacement,” the World Meteorological Organization warned in May.