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Climate Risk Index 2026: Scorching heat, torrential rain, raging wildfires, deadly floods, and devastating storms — what were once rare events have become the new normal in a rapidly warming world.
With 2024 confirmed as the hottest year on record, the latest Climate Risk Index 2026 by Germanwatch highlights how the growing intensity of extreme weather events is reshaping global life and economies.
Between 1995 and 2024, more than 9,700 extreme weather events claimed 832,000 lives and caused direct economic losses of nearly USD 4.5 trillion (inflation-adjusted), the report states.
The countries most affected during this 30-year period were Dominica, Myanmar, and Honduras.
China ranked No. 11, Pakistan No. 15, and the United States No. 18; find full rankings below.
India improved its annual rank from No. 10 in 2023 to No. 15 in 2024, reflecting fewer major disasters and gradual improvements in resilience.
However, over the longer period (1995–2024), India stands at No. 9 among the countries most affected by climate-related disasters — recording around 80,000 deaths, or 9.6 per cent of the global total, from extreme weather events.
The report notes that India faced more than 430 climate disasters — including droughts, cyclones, heatwaves, and floods — during the past three decades, resulting in estimated losses of USD 170 billion.
“Notable events with high fatalities and/or economic losses include the 1998 Gujarat and 1999 Odisha cyclones, Cyclones Hudhud (2014) and Amphan (2020), the 1993 floods in Northern India, the Uttarakhand floods of 2013, and severe floods in 2019,” the report stated.
It also highlighted that “recurring and unusually intense heatwaves, with temperatures above 50°C, claimed many lives in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2015.”
