Climate risk index: 830,000 deaths from extreme weather

Developing countries have been most adversely affected by extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and floods over the past 30 years. This is demonstrated by the new Climate Risk Index 2026, published by the environmental and development organization Germanwatch for the climate conference in Brazil.

In some cases, countries are hit by a disaster in such a short period of time that the entire region finds it difficult to recover from the disaster, as co-author Vera Künzel points out. This is especially true of Haiti, the Philippines, and India, which are all in the top ten.

Just over the weekend – days after the devastating typhoon “Kalmaegi” – a new storm hit the Philippines hard. On average, around 20 tropical cyclones hit this island nation every year.

In 30 years, the index has now recorded more than 9,700 extreme weather events with 830,000 deaths and, when adjusted for inflation, direct losses of 4.5 trillion US dollars. Heat waves and storms pose the greatest threat to human life, as Laura Schäfer, another author, said. Hurricanes also cause the most extensive property damage.

At the top of the index for 30 years Dominica – a small Caribbean island nation. It has been hit by typhoons several times. According to Germanwatch, Hurricane Maria alone caused $1.8 billion in damage there in 2017 – almost three times the gross domestic product.

Myanmar is in second place. Here, Cyclone Nargis alone killed nearly 140,000 people in 2008 and caused damage worth 5.8 billion US dollars (5 billion euros). This underscores the scientifically confirmed trend that tropical cyclones are becoming stronger and more dangerous in a hotter world due to the climate crisis, he said.

At climate conferences, poor countries are demanding more help to best adapt to the climate crisis. The need is great. A new UN report on the “adaptation gap” shows that developing countries will need at least $310 billion (€268 billion) per year by 2035 – twelve times more than current international public funding.

However, EU countries and industrialized countries such as France (12th), Italy (16th), the United States (18th) and even Germany (29th) are also in the top group of countries affected. Apart from material losses, casualties in Germany also played a role.

A total of nearly 24,000 deaths were recorded in the country, mainly in the summers of 2003, 2022 and 2023. “The flood disaster in western Germany in 2021 also claimed many lives,” explained Eckstein.

Total damage, adjusted for inflation, has reached nearly 130 billion US dollars (112 billion euros) since 1995.