A new report from Moody’s found that the proportion of those exposed to more than 10 centimeters of flood risk has consistently grown across the period analyzed (1975 – 2030) to about 29 per cent – roughly three in 10 people globally.
The report, An integrated approach to evaluate population exposure to inland and coastal flooding, a retrospective analysis of the global population’s exposure to flooding, also looks at how this has changed over time, how it changes regionally and how it is expected to change in the future.
“Over the period 1975 to 2020 and for the projection to 2023, the population at risk of flooding increases with a higher rate than the total population. This pattern is consistent across all continents,” the report’s authors note.
Upward trajectory
Bringing together global flooding data with global population data, Moody’s further found that an estimated 2.4-billion individuals live in locations exposed to inland flood risk, at the 100-year defended return period, representing just over 31 per cent of the global population. “For nearly 2.3-billion of those individuals, that risk is greater than 10 centimeters and represents about 29 per cent of the world’s population.”
It looks at populations defended from flooding risks. They also note that the risk of flooding and the severity of flooding increases with time in most cases. “The overarching narrative persists: A significant portion of the population is impacted by some form of flood risk,” they write. “This trend is projected to continue its upward trajectory into the future.”