Nearly 80% of the World’s Poorest Face Direct Threats from Climate Hazards, UN Warns

Nearly 900 million of the world’s poorest people—about 80% of the global low-income population—are directly exposed to climate hazards worsened by global warming, bearing a “double and deeply unequal burden,” the United Nations warned on Friday.

“No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and stronger effects of climate change—droughts, floods, heat waves, and air pollution—but the poorest among us face the harshest impacts,” Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told AFP. He urged world leaders attending COP30 in Brazil this November to treat climate action as an essential tool for fighting poverty.

Poverty and Climate Risk: A Close Link

An annual UNDP report, produced with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, analyzed 109 countries and found that 1.1 billion people (18% of 6.3 billion) live in “acute multidimensional” poverty, based on factors like infant mortality, housing, sanitation, electricity, and education. Half of these individuals are minors.

The report illustrates extreme deprivation with the story of Ricardo, a Guarani Indigenous day laborer near Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. He shares a tiny home with 18 family members, has only one bathroom, a wood- and coal-fired kitchen, and none of the children are in school. “Their lives reflect the multidimensional realities of poverty,” the report notes.

Regional Vulnerabilities

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are especially affected, both by high poverty levels and intense climate vulnerability. Impoverished households are particularly susceptible to climate shocks due to reliance on vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and informal labor. When hazards overlap or strike repeatedly, they compound existing deprivations.

Exposure to Climate Hazards

The study highlights exposure to four key environmental risks: extreme heat, drought, floods, and air pollution. Among the poorest:

• 887 million people (79%) face at least one hazard

• 608 million endure extreme heat

• 577 million are exposed to air pollution

• 465 million are affected by floods

• 207 million face droughts

Many experience multiple risks: 651 million face at least two hazards, 309 million face three or four, and 11 million have already encountered all four in a single year.

The Global Challenge

“Concurrent poverty and climate hazards are clearly a global issue,” the report states, warning that rising extreme weather threatens development progress. In South Asia, for example, 99.1% of the poor are exposed to at least one climate hazard. The region must balance poverty reduction with innovative climate action to avoid worsening impacts.

The UN emphasizes that responding to overlapping risks requires prioritizing both people and the planet, and moving from recognition to rapid, concrete action.