Central Asia, the Sahel region and northern Europe experienced their hottest year on record in 2025, according to an analysis based on data from the European Copernicus program.
Globally, the last 12 months are expected to be the third hottest ever recorded after 2024 and 2023, according to the provisional data, which will be confirmed by Copernicus in its annual report in early January.
But the average, which includes land and oceans, masks overall records for certain parts of the world.
Many poorer nations do not publish detailed climate data, so AFP has completed the global picture by independently analysing Copernicus data from climate models, measurements from about 20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.
