Philippines still most disaster-prone country

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines retained its position as the world’s most disaster-prone country, ranking first among 193 United Nations member states in the World Risk Report 2026 with a disaster-risk score of 46.69.

Published by German institutes, the report attributed the country’s ranking to its “extreme overlap of multiple hazards,” with the Philippines recording the highest exposure scores in five of the seven factors assessed.

These include storms at 89.71, earthquakes at 73.15, tsunamis at 69.66, coastal flooding at 58.14 and sea-level rise at 60.17.

The report noted that the Philippines’ location within the Western Pacific typhoon belt structurally shapes its exposure to natural hazards.

The country also ranked first among nations with the highest storm risk, followed by Mexico, Madagascar, Mauritius and Japan.

“A very high exposure score of 40.76 and a vulnerability score of 53.49 also reflect the country’s significant exposure to storms: extremely powerful storms are not the exception here, but a structural reality,” said Daniel Weller of the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

To reduce storm risks, the report recommended strengthening early warning systems, expanding social protection and financial assistance and combining formal and informal approaches to disaster preparedness.

The Philippines was followed in the overall disaster-risk index by India with a score of 44.97, Indonesia with 44.63, Colombia with 39.80, Mexico with 39.18, Myanmar with 37.51, Mozambique with 30.92, the Russian Federation with 30.58, China with 29.54 and Somalia with 29.12.