Flood exposure and poverty in 188 countries

Flooding is among the most prevalent natural hazards, with particularly disastrous impacts in low-income countries. This study presents global estimates of the number of people exposed to high flood risks in interaction with poverty. It finds that 1. 81 billion people (23% of world population) are directly exposed to 1-in-100-year floods. Of these, 1. 24 billion are located in South and East Asia, where China (395 million) and India (390 million) account for over one-third of global exposure. Low- and middle-income countries are home to 89% of the world's flood-exposed people. Of the 170 million facing high flood risk and extreme poverty (living on under 1. 90 per day), 44% are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over 780 million of those living on under 5. 50 per day face high flood risk. Using state-of-the-art poverty and flood data, our findings highlight the scale and priority regions for flood mitigation measures to support resilient development.