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The Street

Samanda Dorger

The Countries With the Highest Flood Risk

Flood Nature

Two weeks after Hurricane Ian, hundreds of homes in central Florida were still submerged in floodwater, and expected to remain that way for weeks.

Florida has 3.5 million people at risk of coastal flooding, and by 2050, an additional 1.1 million people are projected to be at risk due to sea level rise, according to statesatrisk.org. Many Floridians who suffered extensive flooding did not carry a separate flood insurance policy to cover the damage, NBC News reports.

Research exploring the economic consequences of water risk fueled by climate change through 2050 predicts that droughts, floods and storms could wipe $5.6 trillion from the gross domestic product of key economies, according to a report by GHD, a global engineering and architectural professional services company.

A 2022 report in Nature finds that 1.81 billion people (23% of the world’s population) are directly exposed to 1-in-100-year floods. Floods are among the leading threats to people’s livelihoods and affect development prospects worldwide, and several ongoing trends could result in significant increases in flood risks in coming years, the report says.

The majority of the people most vulnerable to the risk of flooding around the world are located in South and East Asia, where China (395 million) and India (390 million) account for over one-third of global exposure, the Nature study found.

To determine the countries most vulnerable to flood risk, researchers who published the study, Flood exposure and poverty in 188 countries, in Nature presented results from a high-resolution global exposure assessment for 188 countries using flood data based on latest generation terrain and hydrographic models.

Some of these countries are developed nations, others are emerging markets that represent some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. 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.

The list includes both the absolute population exposed to flood risk as well as the percentage of population in each country, and is listed in order of percentage.