World: UNDRR Annual report 2025

Country: World Source: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Please refer to the attached file. In 2025, UNDRR supported over 90 countries to strengthen the foundations of risk information, governance, financing and preparedness – catalysing action well beyond its direct footprint and delivering lasting systems change. A World of Rising Risk – and Proven Solutions The year was marked by severe disasters worldwide, including Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, a catastrophic earthquake in Myanmar, and unprecedented wildfires in California — many unfolding in fragile or low-income contexts where the least prepared face the greatest consequences. Against this backdrop, global attention to disaster risk reduction intensified. Yet, the evidence is clear — and central to UNDRR’s advocacy: investing in disaster risk reduction works. Today, every country has an institutional mechanism for managing disaster risk; over 70 per cent have a national disaster risk reduction strategy; and 65 per cent have an early warning system in place. Countries with more robust governance have more comprehensive early warning systems, and countries with comprehensive early warning systems experience six times lower disaster mortality. Over the past two decades, average global disaster-related mortality has declined by two-thirds, with economic losses stabilising relative to exposure despite rapidly increasing asset values and urbanisation. Benefit–cost ratios for DRR investments in high-risk, low-income countries regularly exceed 10: 1. UNDRR’s role has been to make these gains possible, by aligning data, policy, finance and capacity so that others can act effectively.

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