Flood exposure and poverty in 188 countries

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 3527
• Main Authors: Rentschler, Jun, Salhab, Melda, Jafino, Bramka Arga
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.06.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 100 year floods; 704/4111; 706/134; Developing countries; Exposure; Flood control; Flood data; Flooding; Floods; Humanities and Social Sciences; Income; LDCs; multidisciplinary; Poverty; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); World population
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30727-4

Flooding is among the most prevalent natural hazards, with particularly disastrous impacts in low-income countries. This study presents global estimates of the number of people exposed to high flood risks in interaction with poverty. It finds that 1.81 billion people (23% of world population) are directly exposed to 1-in-100-year floods. Of these, 1.24 billion are located in South and East Asia, where China (395 million) and India (390 million) account for over one-third of global exposure. Low- and middle-income countries are home to 89% of the world’s flood-exposed people. Of the 170 million facing high flood risk and extreme poverty (living on under $1.90 per day), 44% are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 780 million of those living on under $5.50 per day face high flood risk. Using state-of-the-art poverty and flood data, our findings highlight the scale and priority regions for flood mitigation measures to support resilient development. Floods are most devastating for those who can least afford to be hit. Globally, 1.8 billion people face high flood risks; 89% of them live in developing countries; 170 million of them live in extreme poverty making them most vulnerable.