The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) has released new data on global disasters triggered by natural hazards in its latest report, Disasters in Numbers 2024. The report is based on the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), maintained by the University of Louvain since 1988. EM-DAT documents significant disasters worldwide and supports evidence-based decision-making in disaster risk reduction while helping to better understand societal vulnerabilities.
In 2024, a total of 393 disaster events linked to natural hazards were recorded. These resulted in 16,753 fatalities globally, affected approximately 167 million people, and caused economic losses totaling around USD 242 billion. Particularly severe were extreme heat events in Asia, prolonged droughts in Africa, and devastating tropical storms in the United States – with the latter alone accounting for over USD 100 billion in damages.
You can access the full report here.
(Image Source: CRED)