800,000 lives and $4.2 trillion lost due to extreme weather events globally in 30 years: Report

Mumbai: Almost 800,000 lives and $4.2 trillion have been lost because of 9,400 extreme weather events in 30 years, according to Germanwatch, an environmental organization headquartered in Bonn.

Dominica, China, and Honduras have been the countries most affected by floods, storms, and heatwaves since 1993, according to the Climate Risk Index 2025 report, circulated globally on Wednesday.

The backward-looking index analyses how climate-related extreme weather events affect countries and ranks countries according to economic and human effects with the most affected country ranked first.

Between 1993 and 2022, more than 9.400 extreme weather events happened. These killed almost 800,000 people and caused economic damages totaling $4.2 trillion (inflation-adjusted).

While countries like China, India, and the Philippines were primarily affected by recurring extreme events, Dominica, Honduras, Myanmar, and Vanuatu were most affected by exceptional extreme events. With Italy, Spain, and Greece, there are three EU states among the 10 most affected countries worldwide over the past 30 years.

Laura Schaefer, co-author of the Climate Risk Index and Head of the International Climate Policy Division at Germanwatch said: "The climate crisis is increasingly becoming a global security risk and must be addressed with bold multilateral actions. Leaders at the Munich Security Conference cannot discuss security challenges without addressing climate change. The past three decades show that countries in the Global South are particularly affected by extreme weather events.”

“If the data from these countries were as comprehensive as the data from many Global North countries, an even greater degree of economic and human effects might become visible. There are increasing signs that we are entering a critical and unpredictable phase of the climate crisis, which will also increasingly change social developments and security for mankind all across the globe,” added Schaefer.

Travis Brubaker, Senior Policy Advisor on US Climate Foreign Policy at E3G said: “In this moment of poly-crisis, decision-makers attending the Munich Security Conference simply have to address climate change. There’s war and pressing economic and political matters. Still, it’s wrong to ignore climate change, as climate impacts affect all these global problems. Accelerating ambitious climate action also strengthens global security in three ways: mitigating climate change minimizes the cause of threat multipliers, fosters multilateral collaboration, and helps meet expectations of emerging economies.”