Vulnerability ranking

The Global Climate Risk Index 2017 (CRI) compiled by German Watch is calculated using data from Munich RE NatCatSERVICE on the absolute and relative impacts of extreme climatic events (i.e. fatalities and economic losses from heat waves, floods and storms). Nations ranked as “high risk” are those most impacted by climate change. According to German Watch, high risk nations are most “at risk of frequent disaster or rare, but extraordinary catastrophes, or a combination of both.” We use this ranking in various places on this platform to explore if and how vulnerability to climate change relates to adaptation planning in the NDCs. Scroll down to see how CRI varies geographically and by income group.

Ranking the world's nations in terms of their risk from climate change

Shown here are the numbers of nations assigned to five different classes of risk from climate change according to the GermanWatch CRI. Scroll down to explore the map and see how climate risks vary across the globe.

Impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed across the globe

Higher income countries barely feature among the top twenty nations classified by the CRI  as being most at risk from climate change. Instead, lower income tropical nations appear to be more at risk. Six of the top ten most at risk countries are found in SE Asia and four are found in Central America and the Caribbean. Scroll down to the map to explore the geography of climate risk in more detail.

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