Regional temperature records broken across the world in 2025

PARIS: Central Asia, the Sahel region and northern Europe experienced their hottest year on record in 2025, according to an AFP analysis based on data from the European Copernicus programme.

Globally, the last 12 months are expected to be the third hottest ever recorded after 2024 and 2023, according to provisional data that will be confirmed by Copernicus in its annual report in early January. The global average, which includes land and oceans, masks record temperatures in particular regions.

Many poorer nations do not publish detailed climate data, so AFP completed the global picture by independently analysing Copernicus data from climate models, measurements from about 20 satellites and weather stations. The data spans the whole world, hour by hour, since 1970. During 2025, 120 monthly temperature records were broken in more than 70 countries.

Central Asia

Every country in Central Asia broke its annual temperature records. Landlocked, mountainous Tajikistan, where only 41 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water, saw the highest abnormal temperatures in the world, at more than 3°C above its seasonal averages for 1981–2010. Monthly temperature records have been broken every month since May, with the exception of November. Neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan, Iran and Uzbekistan experienced temperatures 2°C to 3°C above the seasonal average.

Sahel and west Africa

Temperature records were beaten in several countries in the Sahel and west Africa. Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Chad recorded temperatures 0.7°C to 1.5°C above their seasonal averages. The last 12 months were the hottest ever recorded in Nigeria and among the four hottest on record in the other countries. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution network, who assess the role of human‑induced climate change in extreme weather events, wrote in their annual report that extreme heat events "have become almost 10 times more likely since 2015". Countries in the Sahel — the semi‑arid region of west and north‑central Africa stretching from Senegal to Sudan — are among the most vulnerable to rising temperatures, with many already facing armed conflict, food insecurity and widespread poverty.

Europe

Around 10 European countries are on the verge of, or close to, breaking their annual temperature records, notably after an exceptional summer. In Switzerland and several Balkan countries, summer temperatures were 2°C and even 3°C above their seasonal average. Spain, Portugal and Britain recorded their worst summer on record, with extreme heat fuelling massive wildfires. The driest spring in more than a century led to a UK water shortage. Northern Europe was largely spared the heatwave that hit southern Europe at the end of June but instead experienced an abnormally warm autumn. The last 12 months are expected to be one of the two warmest years on record in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.

(With inputs from AFP/RSS)