Percentage change in flood mortality risk, exposure and vulnerability, as modelled, from 1980–2010 (compared to baseline year 1980)

Description: Global vulnerability to flood hazard has decreased since 1990, with South Asia the only
region where vulnerability was still increasing during the 1990s (Figure 2.11). Since then, vulnerability has declined in all regions except Europe, Central Asia and the OECD, where it has remained stable. These figures are regional averages and may include individual countries in which vulnerability is increasing. In general, however, the statistics reflect how development has reduced vulnerability and strengthened DRM capacities. It also shows that global flood mortality risk was increasing until 2000, but it has subsequently declined and is now lower than in 1990. There are, however, important
regional differences. In the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa, flood mortality risk is still increasing, indicating that growing exposure continues to outpace reductions in vulnerability. The positive global trend is largely determined by Asia, where risk is falling. The major success story has been East Asia and the Pacific, where despite rapidly increasing exposure, flood mortality risk has more than halved since 1990. South Asia is reducing its vulnerability at a much slower pace, meaning that risk in 2010 is higher than it was in 1990.
Published in: 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction - Revealing Risk, Redefining Development
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