November 13, 2025
BELEM, BRAZIL – India ranks among the top ten countries most affected by climate change globally, according to a report released in Belem on Wednesday.
The report highlights the toll that extreme weather events, including heat waves, storms, and floods, have taken on vulnerable nations, including India. The 2026 Climate Risk Index by German Watch lists Dominica, Myanmar, and Honduras as the most impacted by extreme weather over the last three decades.
While the majority of the countries in the top rankings are in Global South, several European nations and the United States are also included in the top 30, showcasing the widespread effects of climate change. The report indicates that about 40 per cent of the world’s population, over three billion people, resides in the eleven countries most severely affected by climate related extreme weather in the past 30 years.
India, ranked 9th overall, has a significant population of approximately 1.4 billion affected individuals, while China, which holds the 11th position, contributes notably as well. Libya and Haiti follow closely with the Philippines, recently impacted by severe typhoons Kalmaegi and Fung-wong, in 7th place.
Developed nations are not exempt from these challenges – France ranks 12th, the highest among industrialised countries, with Italy at 16th and the United States, under the leadership of Donald Trump and currently in a state of climate denial, at 18th. The index records over 9,700 extreme weather events occurring between 1995 and 2024, resulting in more than 830,000 fatalities and over USD 4.5 trillion in direct damages, adjusted for inflation.
According to the report, heat waves and storms are the most significant threats to human life posed by these events and cause the highest monetary damages, while floods have affected the most people. Experts point out that India has been consistently within the top ladder of climatic impacts as the earlier index of German watch, released in 2020, showed India suffered the maximum number of deaths (2,081) from climate-triggered extreme weather events in 2018.
India was also second in terms of economic losses in 2018. “The latest report underlined the huge impact on India in terms of climate impacts and calls for policy changes not only at the global level but also at the national level to ensure that the vulnerable population can counter such impacts more strongly in future,” observed an Indian expert at Belem.