Natural disasters vary greatly in scale, hazard type, and consequence. In 2023, EM-DAT recorded 399 natural-hazard disasters worldwide, with 86,473 reported fatalities, 93.1 million affected people, and US$202.7 billion in reported economic losses.
Key Natural Disaster Statistics
The following figures summarize the most important measured outcomes across the available global, national, and case-study data:
- In 2023, 399 natural-hazard disasters were recorded worldwide by EM-DAT.
- In 2023, 86,473 fatalities were reported worldwide from natural-hazard disasters.
- In 2023, 93.1 million people were affected worldwide by natural-hazard disasters.
- In 2023, US$202.7 billion in economic losses were reported worldwide from natural disasters.
- From 2003 to 2022, the average annual disaster death toll was 64,148 worldwide.
- From 2003 to 2022, the median annual disaster death toll was 19,290 worldwide.
- From 2003 to 2022, an average of 175.5 million people were affected each year worldwide.
- In February 2023, the Türkiye-Syria earthquake sequence caused 56,683 reported deaths.
- In February 2023, the Türkiye-Syria earthquake sequence affected an estimated 18 million people.
- In 2023, India’s monsoon floods caused at least 1,529 fatalities from June through September.
- In 2023, Indonesia’s drought affected approximately 18.8 million residents from June through September.
- In 1998–2017, climate-related disasters accounted for US$2,245 billion, or 77% of reported losses worldwide.
- In 2023, the United States recorded 28 billion-dollar disasters.
- Since 2000, low-income countries averaged 130 deaths per million exposed residents.
- Since 2000, high-income countries averaged 18 deaths per million exposed residents.
- In a one-year counterfactual covering 89 developing countries, 26 million fewer people would be in extreme poverty if all disasters were prevented for one year.
- In 2019, 42% of people across a 75-country sample were at high risk from extreme weather shocks.
- In 2019, 70% of people exposed to extreme weather in that sample were at high risk.
Contents
- Key Natural Disaster Statistics
- Global Natural Disaster Events, Deaths, and Affected Populations
- Earthquake Mortality and Natural Disaster Death Statistics
- Flood, Storm, and Cyclone Disaster Statistics
- Drought, Wildfire, and Heat Disaster Data
- Natural Disaster Economic Losses and U.S. Billion-Dollar Events
- Poverty, Inequality, and Welfare Outcomes
Global Natural Disaster Events, Deaths, and Affected Populations
EM-DAT records a natural-hazard disaster when at least one threshold is met: 10 deaths, 100 affected people, a declared state of emergency, or an international-assistance call. Its 2023 figures exclude biological and extra-terrestrial hazards, report events at country level, and may change as information is revised.
| Measure | 2023 worldwide | 2003–2022 annual reference |
|---|---|---|
| Reported disasters | 399 | — |
| Deaths | 86,473 | 64,148 average; 19,290 median |
| People affected | 93.1 million | 175.5 million average |
| Reported economic losses | US$202.7 billion | US$196.3 billion average |
Source: 2023: Disasters in Numbers. The 2023 loss total is incomplete: only one-third of disasters from 2003–2022 had documented total damage, and loss reporting varies across countries and years.
The gap between the 64,148-death average and the 19,290-death median shows how a small number of catastrophic events can raise the mean. “Affected” is EM-DAT’s reported impact measure and is not necessarily a count of unique people.
Earthquake Mortality and Natural Disaster Death Statistics
Earthquakes can produce concentrated mortality and large reconstruction needs. The February 2023 Türkiye-Syria earthquake sequence illustrates why country totals and combined event totals should be kept distinct.
| Location or event | Deaths or casualties | People affected | Damage or qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Türkiye component | 50,783 deaths | About 9.2 million | At least US$34 billion damage estimate |
| Syrian Arab Republic component | 5,900 deaths | 8.8 million | US$8.9 billion damage estimate |
| Combined sequence | 56,683 reported deaths | Estimated 18 million | US$42.9 billion reported damage |
| Morocco High Atlas earthquake | 2,946 fatalities | — | Estimated US$7 billion losses |
| Herat earthquake, Afghanistan | 2,445 reported fatalities | — | Reported fatality total |
Source: 2023: Disasters in Numbers. The combined Türkiye-Syria figure aggregates impacts across both countries, while the loss figures are estimates and the Türkiye figure is a minimum estimate.
Other 2023 mortality entries also require careful definitions. Storm Daniel’s Libya floods produced 12,352 casualties, including 8,000 missing people, while South Kivu floods and landslides in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had an estimated death toll of 2,970, including 470 confirmed deaths; neither figure should be treated as a fully confirmed death count.
Flood, Storm, and Cyclone Disaster Statistics
Floods and storms often affect large populations even when mortality is measured separately. The following event-level figures use the source’s own labels, including lower bounds, estimates, and casualty counts.
| Event and geography | Period | Measured impact |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclone Freddy, Malawi | 2023 | 1,209 fatalities; 2.3 million affected |
| Cyclone Michaung flooding, India | December 2023 | 4.4 million affected |
| Tropical Storm Otis, Mexico | October 2023 | 104 fatalities; 1 million affected |
| India monsoon floods | June–September 2023 | At least 1,529 fatalities; 10.2 million affected |
| Philippines floods and landslides | January 2023 | 52 deaths; 2.1 million affected |
Source: 2023: Disasters in Numbers. Affected populations are event-level measures and are not necessarily unique across separate events.
Additional flood and rainfall impacts included approximately 2.5 million people affected by Somalia’s December torrential rains and 2.9 million affected by Tanzania’s December flood. Guatemala rainfall-related flooding and landslides affected more than 4.4 million people and caused 78 deaths, while Emilia-Romagna floods in Italy produced 15 casualties and an estimated US$9.8 billion in damage.
The same report recorded 275 fatalities from Nigeria’s October floods and 248 reported deaths from Yemen’s prolonged rainy season between March and September 2023. A March 2023 U.S. storm outbreak caused 13 fatalities and had estimated costs of US$6 billion.
Drought, Wildfire, and Heat Disaster Data
Drought, wildfire, and heat statistics can combine direct event reporting with modeled attribution. Their populations and definitions are therefore especially important when comparing them with earthquake or flood counts.
- Indonesia’s drought affected approximately 18.8 million residents from June through September 2023; the report notes that drought reporting can be incomplete.
- The U.S. Southern and Midwestern drought and heat wave produced an estimated US$14.5 billion in damage during 2023.
- The Lahaina wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, caused estimated US$5.5 billion in economic losses in August 2023.
- A later European study revised estimated heat-related mortality for summer 2022 to 61,570 deaths, compared with a preliminary EM-DAT count of 16,305 deaths.
- Spain’s MACE application estimated 5,028 deaths attributable to extreme heat and an additional 6,137 deaths attributed to moderate heat in summer 2023.
Source: 2023: Disasters in Numbers. The European estimate is a revised study result and is not directly comparable with preliminary EM-DAT counts; Spain’s figures are application estimates with methodology and period-specific effects.
Natural Disaster Economic Losses and U.S. Billion-Dollar Events
Economic totals depend on whether they measure direct reported losses, estimated damage, or a thresholded event series. UNDRR reported US$2,908 billion in direct economic losses from 1998–2017, while climate-related disasters accounted for US$2,245 billion, or 77% of that total.
| Measure | Period and geography | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| Direct economic losses | 1998–2017, disaster-hit countries worldwide | US$2,908 billion |
| Climate-related losses | 1998–2017, worldwide | US$2,245 billion; 77% |
| Earlier climate-related losses | 1978–1997, worldwide | US$895 billion |
| Reported extreme-weather change | 1978–1997 to 1998–2017 | 151% increase |
| Natural-disaster losses | 2003–2022, worldwide annual average | US$196.3 billion |
Source: Economic losses, poverty & disasters: 1998-2017 and 2023: Disasters in Numbers. UNDRR cautions that low-income-country losses are substantially under-reported, and the two 20-year periods have different reporting completeness.
The largest 2023 EM-DAT event damage totals included US$42.9 billion for the Türkiye-Syria earthquake, an estimated US$25 billion for Typhoon Doksuri in China, US$12 billion for Tropical Storm Otis in Mexico, and an estimated US$6.2 billion for Storm Daniel’s Libya floods.
The U.S. threshold series is narrower than a worldwide disaster census. The U.S. recorded 28 billion-dollar disasters in 2023, and the total cost of U.S. billion-dollar disasters peaked at about US$400 billion in 2017; the underlying NOAA series uses inflation-adjusted costs, while the BTS page notes that 2024 data ran only through October.
Source: U.S. Billion-Dollars Disaster Events: 1980-2024.
Poverty, Inequality, and Welfare Outcomes
Disaster impact extends beyond immediate deaths and physical damage. UNDRR reported 1.3 million deaths and a further 4.4 billion people injured, homeless, displaced, or in need of emergency assistance from 1998–2017; these are combined impact categories, not a unique single-outcome population.
Extreme weather accounted for 91% of disasters in that period. Since 2000, low-income countries averaged 130 deaths per million people living in disaster-affected areas, compared with 18 deaths per million in high-income countries; these are georeferenced averages, not national population mortality rates.
The World Bank estimated that 26 million fewer people would be in extreme poverty below US$1.90 per day in a one-year counterfactual where all disasters were prevented, using 1.4 million household surveys across 89 developing countries. The estimate has large uncertainties and excludes some health, education, and savings effects.
- In Africa, a cited study found enrollment rates 20% lower in drought-affected regions; this is not a universal continental estimate.
- In Mexico, children temporarily removed from school after a flood were 30% less likely to continue their education than children who remained; the result is an observational case study.
- After Hurricane Mitch, child undernourishment probability rose 8.7 percentage points, and child labor-force participation rose 5.6 percentage points in affected Nicaraguan regions.
- In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, 38% of poor people versus 29% of nonpoor people lived in frequently flooded areas.
- After Cyclone Aila in 2009, 25% of poor households versus 14% of nonpoor households in 12 surveyed southwest Bangladesh villages were exposed.
- In a global modeled analysis, the poorest 20% experienced 11% of total asset losses but 47% of total well-being losses.
Sources: Natural Disasters, Poverty and Inequality: New Metrics for Fairer Policies and Economic losses, poverty & disasters: 1998-2017. The World Bank findings are case studies, surveys, or model estimates and should not be generalized as universal causal effects.
A separate World Bank analysis covering 75 countries and 77% of the world population estimated that 42% of people were at high risk from extreme weather shocks in 2019. Within that sample, 70% of people exposed to extreme weather were at high risk, where high risk combines exposure and vulnerability under the study’s model.
Source: Counting People Exposed to, Vulnerable to, or at High Risk From Climate Shocks.