NEW DELHI: India has made notable progress in reducing its Climate Risk Index (CRI) ranking, improving from the seventh most affected country in 2019 to 49th in 2022. However, over the long term, it remains among the top 10 most impacted nations, ranked sixth in the 1993-2022 assessment.
These findings are part of the CRI 2025 report, released by the environmental think tank Germanwatch on Wednesday. The analysis examines six indicators, including fatalities and economic losses due to extreme weather events in countries from 1993 to 2022.
According to the report, India has lost 80,000 lives and incurred nearly $180 billion in damages from 400 extreme weather events over the past 30 years (1993-2022).
Globally, more than 765,000 people died in over 9,400 extreme weather events during the same period, resulting in economic losses totaling $4.2 trillion (adjusted for inflation). Storms (35%), heat waves (30%), and floods (27%) were the primary contributors to fatalities between 1993 and 2022.
The report highlights the global trend of increasing climate risks, noting that seven of the 10 most affected countries in 2022 were high-income nations. “This underscores that while high-income countries have greater coping capacities than lower-income nations, they must also strengthen their climate risk management,” the report stated.
Italy, Spain, and Greece are among the European Union countries ranked among the 10 most affected globally over the past 30 years. Dominica, China, Honduras, Myanmar, and Italy top the list of the most affected countries from 1993 to 2022.
This report follows a recent World Economic Forum (WEF) ranking that placed extreme weather events driven by climate change as the second most significant global risk, just behind armed conflict and war.
For India, the report highlights catastrophic events such as the devastating floods of 1993, 1998, and 2013, along with extreme heat waves in 2002, 2003, and 2015. The country has experienced high fatality numbers, substantial economic losses, and significant impacts on its population during this period.
Notable Indian events included the 1998 Gujarat and 1999 Odisha cyclones, as well as Cyclones Hudhud and Amphan in 2014 and 2020, respectively. Other major events include the 1993 northern India floods, the 2013 Uttarakhand floods, and severe floods in 2019. The report also pointed to recurring and intense heat waves, with temperatures reaching nearly 50°C in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2015, which led to numerous fatalities.
