Bangladesh has been ranked 13th in the Long-Term Climate Risk Index (CRI), reflecting its continued vulnerability to climate-related hazards such as floods, heatwaves, cyclones and storms.
The CRI was prepared by the global disaster watchdog Germanwatch by analysing data on casualties and property damage caused by extreme weather events in 20 countries, including Bangladesh, over the last 30 years.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel. The index documents over 9,700 extreme weather events from 1995 to 2024, which resulted in more than 830,000 deaths and caused over $4.5 trillion in direct damages, adjusted for inflation.
Germanwatch praised Bangladesh for bringing down the number of deaths by effective risk management in CRI 2026, which was released at COP30 in Belém.
Owing to effective risk prevention and adaptation, cyclone-related mortality in Bangladesh has fallen more than 100-fold in the last 40 years, from half a million deaths in 1970 to 4,234 in 2007, the report said.
Bangladesh’s neighbours, India and Myanmar, are both ranked within the top 10 in the index.
Dominica, Myanmar and Honduras are listed as the three most affected countries over the 30-year period.
The other countries in the top 10 are: Libya (4th), Haiti (5th), Grenada (6th), the Philippines (7th), Nicaragua (8th), The Bahamas (10th) and China (11th).
None of the eleven is among the world’s wealthy industrialised nations.
However, industrialised nations such as France (12th), Italy (16th) and the US (18th) are among the top 30.
The CRI findings underscore that countries in the Global South are especially vulnerable to the climate crisis and need greater support from wealthier nations. Still, even industrialised countries are increasingly affected.
“The results of the CRI 2026 clearly demonstrate that COP30 must find effective ways to close the global ambition gap,” said David Eckstein, one of the authors of the report.
Global emissions must be cut immediately to avoid further human and economic losses.
“At the same time, adaptation must accelerate, with concrete loss and damage solutions and adequate climate finance,” he added.
In 2024, drought, flood, heatwave, storms and wildfires were the main weather events.
Bangladesh, the Philippines and India recorded the most people affected by extreme weather in 2024. Bangladesh experienced a severe heatwave with temperatures that reached 43.8 degree Celsius and that affected more than 33 million people.
“Heat waves and storms pose the greatest threat to human life when it comes to extreme weather events,” said Laura Schäfer, another author of the report.
Storms also caused by far the greatest monetary damage, while floods were responsible for the highest number of people affected, she added.