Disasters – from earthquakes and storms to floods and droughts – kill approximately 40,000 to 50,000 people per year. This is the average over the last few decades.

While that’s a relatively small fraction of all deaths globally, disasters can have much larger impacts on specific populations. Single extreme events can kill tens to hundreds of thousands of people. In the 20th century, more than a million deaths per year were not uncommon.

Disasters have other large impacts, too. Millions of people are displaced – some left homeless – by them each year. And the economic costs of extreme events can be severe, and hard to recover from. This is particularly true in lower-income countries.

We are not defenceless against disasters: deaths from disasters have fallen significantly over the last century as a result of early warning systems, better infrastructure, more productive agriculture, and coordinated responses.

As climate change increases the risks of more extreme events, making societies even more resilient will be crucial to prevent our recent progress from reversing. To do so, we need to understand how disaster events are changing, who is most vulnerable, and what can be done to protect them.

On this page, you will find our complete collection of data, charts, and research on natural disasters and their costs.