New Delhi: India has ranked among the top 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events, which claimed over eight lakh lives worldwide between 1995 and 2024. Across the country, floods, heatwaves, cyclones, and drought caused economic losses of nearly USD 170 billion and over 80,000 fatalities.
This data comes from ‘Climate Risk Index 2026’, a new report released on 11 November by the not-for-profit organisation, Germanwatch. The report reveals the extent of devastation by extreme weather events, only exacerbated by climate change, as leaders meet in Brazil for COP30.
At least 9,700 extreme weather events have struck the world over the past 30 years, the report stated.
Published every year since 2006, the report is one of the longest-running annual impact-related assessments in the world. It indexes nations by comparing their economic losses, fatalities, and total people affected by natural disasters.
The 2026 index has Dominica at the top, with the mountainous Caribbean island nation at the highest risk of frequent extreme weather events. In 2017, Hurricane Maria caused economic damage, totalling USD 1.8 billion, which is thrice the country’s GDP.
Myanmar ranks second, having endured 55 extreme weather events in the last 30 years. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar killed nearly 1,40,000 people and caused damage worth USD 5.8 billion.
India is at ninth, having faced extreme climatic risks such as floods, heatwaves, cyclones, and droughts over the last 30 years. Nearly 430 extreme weather events later, India’s fatalities surpassed 80,000 between 1995 and 2024, while economic losses increased to USD 170 billion. The tally of the affected people stood at nearly 1.3 billion, according to the report.
CRI 2026 is based on 2024 data. It uses the International Disaster for extreme weather data, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank for socio-economic data. Countries ranking high on the index are at frequent risk of extreme weather events.
“Countries such as Haiti, the Philippines, and India… face particular challenges. They are hit by floods, heatwaves, or storms so regularly that entire regions can hardly recover from the impacts until the next event strikes,” said Vera Künzel, a senior advisor on climate change adaptation and human rights at Germanwatch, in a press release. “When more funding to address loss and damage is negotiated here at COP, the focus is on countries like these.”
St. Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada, Chad, followed by Papua New Guinea, Niger, and Nepal, are the top 10 affected countries in the CRI rankings. According to the index, 40 percent of the world’s population lives in the top 11 most-affected nations.
In 2024, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and India had the most people affected by extreme weather events, said the report.
Bangladesh faced severe heat waves with temperatures reaching 43.8 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Typhoon Trami struck the Philippines, triggering widespread flooding. Across India, heavy rains have caused severe flooding and landslides. The lives of the eight million women have been impacted, especially in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tripura, among other states.
The report specifically flagged the Amphan and Hudhud cyclones in 2020 and 2014—they hit the Bay of Bengal and caused devastation in the coastal Indian states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal.
“The results of the CRI 2026 clearly demonstrate that COP30 must find effective ways to close the global ambition gap,” the press release quoted David Eckstein, senior advisor on climate finance and investments at Germanwatch, saying. “Global emissions have to be reduced immediately; there is a risk of a rising number of deaths and economic disaster worldwide,” he said.
Akshata Rawat is an alum of ThePrint School of Journalism, currently interning with ThePrint
(Edited by Madhuhrita Goswami)
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