Africa is facing its most devastating climate-linked crisis in over a decade, with the years 2021 to 2025 standing out as the deadliest five-year stretch in terms of lives lost and people affected by extreme weather. More than 221 million people have been impacted during this period — exceeding the combined totals of the previous decade — and disaster-related deaths have surged to nearly 29,000.
This sharp rise reflects both the growing intensity of climate-related hazards and the continent’s limited capacity to cope with them. While disasters between 2011 and 2015 claimed 4,684 lives, and 8,106 between 2016 and 2020, the figure jumped to 28,759 in the most recent period. In fact, nearly 70 percent of disaster-related deaths since 2011 have occurred within the past five years alone.
A Region Gripped by Extreme Weather
From droughts and floods to cyclones, landslides, and heatwaves, the continent has been battered by a series of severe climate events. Droughts have been the most destructive, accounting for over 178 million affected people — more than 80 percent of the total. Floods were the second most damaging, while storms and cyclones made up a smaller but still significant share.
The Horn of Africa has borne the worst of it. Five consecutive failed rainy seasons in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya culminated in the region’s most severe drought in 70 years by early 2023. The situation worsened in 2024 when another crippling drought struck southern Africa and the Zambezi basin, fueled by a powerful El Niño. By mid-2025, millions were facing acute water shortages and food insecurity, with Somalia alone seeing 4.4 million people directly affected.
Countries Hit the Hardest
Five nations accounted for more than half of all those affected between 2021 and 2025. Ethiopia recorded the highest toll, with 33 million people affected — a seventeenfold increase compared to the previous five years. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) followed with 28.5 million, a staggering forty-twofold surge. Nigeria faced nearly 24 million affected, while Somalia recorded 15.6 million. Sudan reported 12.8 million, marking an almost eightfold increase.
Southern Africa also witnessed alarming rises. South Africa alone saw 12.2 million affected, 16 times more than in the preceding period, highlighting how widespread the crisis has become across different climate zones.
Disasters Growing Deadlier
Libya became the epicenter of climate-linked mortality, accounting for over 13,000 deaths between 2011 and 2025, nearly all from the catastrophic Derna floods of September 2023. That single disaster remains one of Africa’s deadliest in recent memory. The DRC also saw fatalities climb sevenfold to nearly 4,000, while Malawi reported a 16-fold jump, largely due to flooding events.
These escalating numbers reveal not only the increasing ferocity of climate extremes but also the gaps in resilience and preparedness. Many African countries lack robust systems for disaster risk reduction, early warning, and long-term climate adaptation. As a result, communities remain highly vulnerable when extreme events strike.
Institutional Weakness and Readiness Gaps
The rising toll underscores how governance and infrastructure failures compound climate impacts. Poor land-use planning, inadequate emergency response systems, and fragile social safety nets leave millions exposed. The latest global adaptation readiness indices place many African countries — including the Central African Republic, Chad, Zimbabwe, the DRC, and Congo — among the least prepared to attract and deploy investments needed to build resilience.
With data only available up to May 2025, the final toll by year’s end is expected to be higher. Already, the statistics paint a stark picture: more than 221 million people affected and close to 29,000 lives lost in just five years. The continent’s climate crisis is not only worsening but also outpacing the capacity of institutions to respond. Without urgent investments in adaptation, Africa faces the prospect of every new disaster season being deadlier than the last.
