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UN Index Finds Nearly 900 Million Poor People Face Direct Climate Hazards

UN officials urge COP30 to treat climate policy as poverty relief.

Overview

  • UNDP and OPHI’s 2025 Global MPI identifies 1.1 billion people in acute multidimensional poverty across 109 countries, with 887 million exposed to at least one climate hazard.
  • Hazard exposure among poor populations includes extreme heat for 608 million people, air pollution for 577 million, floods for 465 million, and drought for 207 million.
  • Overlapping risks are widespread, with 651 million poor people exposed to two or more hazards, 309 million to three or four, and about 11 million experiencing all four in a single year.
  • South Asia and Sub‑Saharan Africa are major hotspots, and in South Asia exposure is nearly universal at 99.1 percent of people in poverty.
  • UNDP leaders call for scaled adaptation finance and climate‑resilient development ahead of COP30, citing projections that higher‑poverty countries will face the largest temperature rises by century’s end.