Record Heat Last Month in Regions Inhabited by 900 Million People Worldwide

Regions home to a combined population of nearly 900 million people experienced the hottest July on record in 2026, according to calculations by Agence France-Presse (AFP) based on data from the European Copernicus programme.

Record July temperatures were recorded in 33 countries, particularly in the Sahel region and Latin America, as well as in France and Spain, according to a detailed analysis of billions of data points derived from the Copernicus ERA5 climate model.

The data independently analyzed by AFP includes measurements from satellites, land-based, marine, and atmospheric weather stations, and climate models; it covers the entire globe on an hourly basis and dates back to 1970.