This is part of a series on the effects of climate change.
Most affected regions
In 2023, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Myanmar, were the countries most exposed to flood risk. In fact, six of the top 10 countries in terms of exposure to flood risk were in Asia, in particular in the south and eastern regions of the continent. A combination of low average elevation, high incidence of tropical storms and rainfall, and underdeveloped flood protection infrastructure makes these countries especially vulnerable.While Asia is particularly exposed, no region remains immune to the devastating impacts of flooding. In July 2021, Europe saw catastrophic floods, with river and flash floods in Germany and Belgium becoming the 10th-deadliest in the continent in the past century. As of 2022, around 20 percent of the German population was exposed to flood risk. In the Netherlands, this figure stood at roughly 60 percent, the highest in Europe.