Attachments
Key Findings
The WorldRiskIndex 2025 indicates the disaster risk for 193 countries worldwide. Thus, covering all United Nations member states and over 99 percent of the global population:
- In 2025, risk hotspots remain concentrated in Asia and the Americas. At the same time, Africa continues to show the highest levels of vulnerability worldwide: almost 80 percent of the continent is classified as high- or very high risk-areas.
- The top 10 highest-risk countries show only minor changes: China re-enters the group, while Bangladesh drops to 11th place. Indonesia and India switch positions, with India now ranking second worldwide.
- The Philippines is once again at the top of the WorldRiskIndex this year: a country characterized by high geographic fragmentation and high exposure to weather-related extremes.
- Germany remains in the global midfield this year, sharing 95th place with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Global risk drivers include social inequality, structural vulnerability, and weak health systems. These reduce adaptability and resilience — even in wealthy countries, for example, through austerity measures in key societal sectors.
- The examples of China, Nigeria, and Afghanistan illustrate that data is often collected irregularly and published with delays. When current information is lacking, a country's risk profile appears to remain unchanged in a global comparison, thus skewing its ranking. When new data becomes available, there are often abrupt changes that are difficult to interpret, as it is unclear over what period they actually occurred.