Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-8 (section)

=== FAQ 8.2 | Which world regions are highly vulnerable and how many people live there? ===

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''A mix of multiple development challenges, such as poverty, hunger, conflict and environmental degradation, make countries and whole regions vulnerable to climate change. Many of the people in the most vulnerable situations and in the most vulnerable regions are also highly exposed to climate hazards, such as droughts, floods or sea level rise at present and will become increasingly so in the future. Studies estimate that around 3.3 to 3.6 billion people are living in regions classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, which is significantly higher than the number of people who reside in regions classified as least vulnerable. The most vulnerable regions include East, Central and West Africa, South Asia, Micronesia and Melanesia, and Central America.''

When a country or region is considered ‘vulnerable’ to climate change this means that climate hazards (e.g., drought, flood, heatwaves) have a very negative impact because there is a high number of people in these areas that lack the ability or opportunity to cope and adapt to such events, due to, for example, high average poverty, inequality and lack of institutional support. This vulnerability could be due to many different development challenges that all come together and influence each other, such as poverty, lack of access to basic infrastructure services, high numbers of uprooted people, state fragility, low or below average life expectancy and biodiversity degradation. These structural social issues often affect regions for many decades and make it difficult for the state and for individuals to respond to climate change and climate-related hazards.

For example, if a region is already characterised by poverty and struggling to feed its population and provide adequate access to basic infrastructure services, such as water and sanitation, this makes them vulnerable. If this region is then faced with an increased number of extremely dry years, this exposes them to drought and will make things even harder causing more hunger, poverty and worsened health—these are climate impacts.

Most vulnerable regions are in Africa, as well as in South Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbean. In these regions, there are often multiple neighbouring countries that all are highly vulnerable, for example in Central and West Africa. These regional clusters require special attention.

There are also highly vulnerable groups and individuals within less vulnerable regions. For example, marginalised, disadvantaged and poor minorities within highly affluent cities. Programmes that aim to support adaptation to climate change need to focus on reducing the vulnerability of individuals, groups, countries and regions.

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