The Philippines has once again earned the title of being the most at-risk country in the world, according to the 2024 World Risk Report. This marks the third consecutive year the Philippines has topped the list out of 193 countries, with a risk index score of 46.91—the highest in three years. For reference, we scored 46.82 in 2022 and 46.86 in 2023.
The World Risk Index is an annual report that evaluates 193 countries across factors such as vulnerability, susceptibility, lack of coping mechanisms, and adaptive capacities. These factors are then grouped into three main categories.
Exposure is about how frequently a country is hit by disasters, vulnerability is about how well a country can handle and recover from those disasters, and risk is the combination of exposure and vulnerability.
Top 10 Riskiest Countries in the World
For the Philippines, frequent natural disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, and flooding contribute to its high level of exposure, particularly due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
“During the coronavirus pandemic, psychosocial and economic stress increased worldwide. In countries that were affected by extreme natural events at the same time, these burdens intensified,” it noted in the report.
“One example is the Philippines, which was hit by 22 tropical cyclones during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Typhoon Goni [Super typhoon Rolly], one of the strongest storms ever recorded. Hundreds of thousands of destroyed homes, overcrowded evacuation centers and the resulting increase in COVID-19 cases not only led to a dramatic increase in humanitarian needs, but also had a negative impact on the mental health of the population.”
But really, we need not look further than what Typhoon Carina and the recent Typhoon Enteng did to us.
Joining the Philippines in the top 10 riskiest nations are Indonesia, India, Colombia, and Mexico. Here's how the others ranked:
- Philippines - 46.91
- Indonesia - 41.13
- India - 40.96
- Colombia - 37.81
- Mexico - 35.93
- Myanmar - 35.85
- Mozambique - 34.44
- Russian Federation - 28.12
- Bangladesh - 27.73
- Pakistan - 27.02
In contrast, Monaco, Andorra, and San Marino were among the safest places to be in terms of disaster risk, scoring the lowest on the index.
*This story originally appeared on Spot.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Preview.ph editors.
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