2022 disasters in numbers
In 2022, the Emergency Event Database EM-DAT recorded 387 natural hazards and disasters worldwide, resulting in the loss of 30,704 lives and affecting 185 million individuals. Economic losses totaled around US$ 223.8 billion. Heat waves caused over 16,000 excess deaths in Europe, while droughts affected 88.9 million people in Africa. Hurricane Ian single-handedly caused damage costing US $ 100 billion in the Americas. The human and economic impact of disasters was relatively higher in Africa, e.g., with 16.4 % of the share of deaths compared to 3.8 % in the previous two decades. It was relatively lower in Asia despite Asia experiencing some of the most destructive disasters in 2022. The total of 387 catastrophic events in 2022 is slightly higher than the average from 2002 to 2021 (370). The occurrence of each type of disaster was also close to the average levels in the last two decades.
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