New climate report reveals most disaster-prone countries
A new report on worldwide disasters reveals which countries have been affected the worst by weather and climate disasters over a 30-year period ending in 2022, the most recent year in which data was complete.
The study, by Germanwatch, titled Climate Risk Index 2025, lists the the island of Dominica in the Caribbean as the worst country for Climate Risk Index, with China the number two country. Rounding out the top five worst are Honduras, Myanmar and Italy.
The paper's Climate Risk Index ranks countries based on economic losses, fatalities and the number of people affected by disasters.
Dominica is affected by a damaging storm every couple of years. Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused $1.8 billion (2017 USD) in damage there, nearly three times the island's GRP (gross domestic product). The island was also damaged by Hurricane Debby in 2000, Omar in 2008, Erika in 2015 and Dorian in 2019.
The island of Dominica has been hit directly six times by hurricanes since 1850 (NOAA)
China faced major flooding events in 1998 and in 2016 and also faced hits by powerful Typhoon Fred in 1994 and Saomai in 2006, the report says. Heat waves and droughts have also added to the toll of death and destruction over the last 30 years, with losses believed to be over $700 billion, includng at least 42,000 fatalities.
Worldwide, the most fatalities were caused by flooding, heat waves and storms, each contributing over 200,000 deaths, the report said. Economic losses were highest for storms ($137 billion), wildfires ($1 billion), flooding ($46 million) and drought ($35 million).
The countries with the lowest climate risk scores were the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya and the Maldives. AccuWeather meteorologists say that's because the Middle East rarely experiences storms, drought or flooding. The Maldives are threatened by sea-level rise, but that was not considered a weather or climate disaster for the purposes of this study.
The study concluded that human-induced climate change affects both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
"As humanity navigates this warming planet’s rising tides and intensifying fires," the report states, "the impacts of extreme weather events are already reshaping economies, societies, and ecosystems at an alarming pace."
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