DHAKA, Feb 13, 2025 (BSS) – Bangladesh incurs a loss of nearly US$300 crore annually due to extreme climate events, including floods, droughts, storms and heatwaves, affecting over 6.3 million people, according to 'The Climate Risk Index 2025' report.

The findings of the report, released on Wednesday by Germanwatch, revealed that Bangladesh incurred a loss of over US$299 crore in 2022 due to natural disasters.  

After taking effective risk prevention and adaptation measures, cyclone-related mortality in Bangladesh has fallen more than 100-fold in the last 40 years, from 500,000 deaths in 1970 to 4,234 in 2007, the report said.

The report said a devastating heatwave from March to May 2022, which reached 49.5°C in Pakistan and extended to India and Bangladesh, caused over 90 deaths.

Between 1993 and 2022, over 9.400 extreme weather events happened worldwide, killing almost 800,000 people and causing economic damages of totaling US$ 4.2 trillion. 

While countries like China, India, and the Philippines were primarily affected by recurring extreme events, Dominica, Honduras, Myanmar, and Vanuatu were most affected by exceptional extreme events. 

With Italy, Spain, and Greece, there are three EU states among the ten most affected countries worldwide over the past 30 years.

The number and strength of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves are increasing and gradually becoming the “new normal” in some regions of the world. 

The Climate Risk Index 2025, published by the environmental organisation Germanwatch, showed that over the last 30 years, Global South countries have been particularly affected by the impacts of extreme weather events. 

The backward-looking index analyses how climate-related extreme weather events affect countries and ranks countries according to economic and human effects on them (fatalities and affected, injured, and homeless people), with the most affected country ranked first.

“The climate crisis is increasingly becoming a global security risk and must be addressed with bold multilateral actions. Leaders at the Munich Security Conference cannot discuss security challenges this weekend without addressing climate change,” Laura Schaefer, Head of Division for International Climate Policy at Germanwatch, said in a press release.

“The past three decades show that countries in the Global South are particularly affected by extreme weather events. If the data from these countries were as comprehensive as those from many Global North countries, an even greater degree of economic and human effects might become visible. There are increasing signs that we are entering a critical and unpredictable phase of the climate crisis, which will further aggravate conflicts, destabilise societies and negatively affect human security worldwide,” Schaefer added.