Biggest climate disasters in Africa 1970-2019, by economic loss

A drought in South Africa in 1990 incurred an economic loss of about 1.96 billion U.S. dollars. Storm Idai, in Mozambique in 2019, also had an economic impact of 1.96 billion U.S. dollars. These two events resulted in the largest economic losses from climate disasters recorded in Africa between 1970 and 2019.

Drought risk in Africa

Droughts have caused an enormous number of human losses. The deadliest natural events in Africa are droughts and caused thousands of fatalities, especially in the 1970s and 1980s in the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa. Many countries with the highest risk of droughts are in Africa. In 2020, Somalia was the most endangered country in the world. Among the ten countries most at risk of droughts, eight were African.

Economic impact of droughts

Between 1970 and 2019, droughts have impacted heavily the economies of various African countries, including Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Namibia, and South Africa. During the last decades, droughts cost Zimbabwe 0.14 percent of the country's GDP. Five of the 10 most expensive weather, climate, and water -related disasters in Africa over the last decades were droughts.