Global patterns of disaster and climate risk—an analysis of the consistency of leading index-based assessments and their results

Abstract Indices assessing country-level climate and disaster risk at the global scale have experienced a steep rise in popularity both science international policy. A number of widely cited products been developed published over recent years, argued to contribute critical knowledge for prioritizing action funding. However, it remains unclear how their results compare, consistent findings are on risk, exposure, vulnerability lack coping, as well adaptive capacity. This paper analyses compares design, data, four leading indices: The World Risk Index, INFORM ND-GAIN Climate Index. Our analysis clearly shows that there is considerable degree cross-index variation regarding countries’ levels comparative ranks. At same time, above-average agreement high-risk countries. In terms sub-components, surprisingly little hazard while strong inter-index correlations can be observed when ranking countries according socio-economic coping Vulnerability capacity hotspots hence identified more robustly than exposure hotspots. speak potential limitations index-based approaches. They show solid understanding assessment tools, conceptual methodological underpinnings, necessary navigate them properly interpret use triangulation.