Global Climates: Who Suffers Most From Extreme Weather Events?
Which country suffers the most from extreme weather events? According to the Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index, Honduras, Myanmar and Haiti were the countries most affected by extreme weather events between 1996 and 2015.
In 2015, Mozambique, Dominica as well as Malawi were at the top of the list of the most affected countries.
Altogether, more than 528 000 people died as a direct result of nearly 11 000 extreme weather events; and losses between 1996 and 2015 amounted to around $3.08 trillion (in Purchasing Power Parities). The host region of the UN climate summit 2016 – the continent of Africa – is severely affected by climatic events with four countries ranking among the 10 countries worldwide most affected in 2015 – Mozambique (1st), Malawi (3rd), Ghana and Madagascar (joint 8th position).
Precipitation, floods and landslides were the major causes of damage in 2015. A high incidence of extreme precipitation supports the scientific expectations of accelerated hydrological cycles caused by climate warming.
Most of the affected countries in the Bottom 10 of the long-term index have a high ranking due to exceptional catastrophes. Over the last few years another category of countries has been gaining relevance: Countries like the Philippines and Pakistan that are recurrently affected by catastrophes continuously rank among the most affected countries both in the long term index and in the index for the respective year for the last six years.
Of the 10 most affected countries (1996–2015), nine were developing countries in the low income or lower-middle income country group, while only one was classified as an upper-middle income country.
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