Extreme weather events linked to the climate crisis caused more than 765,000 deaths worldwide between 1993 and 2022.
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Three European countries rank among those facing the biggest human and economic toll from extreme weather, according to a new report.
Published since 2006, Germanwatch’s Climate Risk Index is one of the longest-running annual tallies of climate-related impacts. It analyses how extreme weather events linked to the crisis impact countries around the world.
The 2025 edition found that extreme weather events directly linked to the climate crisis caused more than 765,000 deaths worldwide between 1993 and 2022. It shows that over 9,400 extreme weather events were registered during this period, causing direct economic losses of nearly $4.2 trillion (€4.02 trillion).
Floods, storms, heatwaves, and drought were the most damaging events. Flooding alone was responsible for over half of the human impact. But it was severe storms that caused the most significant economic damage, totalling $2.3 trillion (€2.2 trillion).
Which European countries are worst affected by extreme weather?
Three EU member states also fall within the top 10 worst-affected countries during this 30-year time period with tens of thousands of deaths and massive economic losses from climate events.
Italy
During the 30 year period the report covers, Italy was the fifth worst-affected country in the world. It saw around 38,000 deaths and nearly $60 billion (€57.8 billion) in economic losses from extreme weather between 1993 and 2022.
Germanwatch says that 2003 and 2022 were “notable for their exceptionally high numbers of fatalities associated with scorching temperatures and damage from droughts, wildfires, decreased agricultural productivity, infrastructure damage and the strain on health services and energy grids.”
The report also points to heavy flooding along the Po River that caused extensive damage in 1994 and 2000.
Greece
Greece was the seventh worst-affected country in the Index, mainly due to its high number of relative fatalities: a total of 34,000 people lost their lives between 1993 and 2022.
Extreme heat in 2022, where temperatures reached 42.1C in the city of Phthiotis, claimed more than 3,000 lives.
Wildfires - such as those in 1998, 2007, and 2022 - are a recurring threat affecting livelihoods and causing severe agricultural damage.
Total economic losses amounted to more than $7 billion (€6.7 billion) over the 30 year period.
Spain
Spain also ranked high due to its number of fatalities from climate-linked extreme weather.
The report says that from 1993 to 2022, the country experienced “many extreme heatwaves, which led to substantial human and economic impacts.” 2003 and 2022 in particular saw high death tolls from extreme heat, and widespread damage from events like droughts and wildfires.
“Highly unusual events include the 1999 drought in southern Spain and heavy floods in 2019 in the southeast, resulting in casualties and massive losses to agriculture, property and infrastructure,” it reads.
Over these three decades, Spain saw a total of 27,000 fatalities and economic losses of around $25 billion (€24 billion).
The 2022 European heatwave ranked highly in the climate risk report
An “extraordinarily persistent” heatwave in 2022 hit and affected all three high-ranking European countries, alongside Portugal, Bulgaria, and other large parts of the continent. The report says it was the main cause of fatalities during this year.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2022 was, at that point, the hottest-ever summer recorded in Europe, while average temperatures in southwestern Europe were the highest recorded since 1950.
This brought severe drought and wildfires spread across large parts of the continent with the European Drought Observatory saying it was the worst drought in 500 years.
The risk index highlights a lack of climate ambition
With seven of the 10 most affected countries in 2022 belonging to the high-income country group, the report highlights the need for all nations to increase their climate risk management.
“High-income and high-emission countries must recognise the urgency of accelerating mitigation efforts. Over the past 30 years, losses totalling $4.2 trillion (€4.02 trillion) are comparable to the entire GDP of Germany,” says David Eckstein, senior advisor for climate finance and investments at Germanwatch and co-author of the index.
The report suggests that it is within the interests of high-income and high-emitting countries to ramp up mitigation action including submitting new nationally determined contributions that align with keeping global warming below 1.5C.
Laura Schaefer, head of division for international climate policy at Germanwatch, says however, that the past three decades demonstrate how 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,” she explains.
“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”
The organisation also stresses that COP29 failed to deliver an ambitious new climate finance goal which didn’t consider the identified needs and urgency of climate challenges in developing countries.
The $300 billion (€288.8 billion) climate fund to be paid annually by 2035, it says, can only be seen as the bare minimum response to the escalating climate crisis.
