Disasters are becoming more frequent, more costly, and more devastating.While direct disaster costs have grown to approximately $202 billion annually, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 estimates that the true cost, is 11 times higher at nearly $2.3 trillion.
Despite this, investment in disaster risk reduction (DRR) remains far too low in national budgets and international assistance. Under the theme “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters”, International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 calls for a decisive shift: fund resilience now to avoid paying for disasters later.
Theme of the day: Fund resilience, not disasters
Countries are facing more record-breaking disasters. This is driven by an increase in extreme weather events and by development decisions that are not risk-informed, which increases the exposure and vulnerability of people and economic assets to a range of hazards.
At the same time, investments in disaster risk reduction (DRR) have not kept pace with increasing disaster risks. This was one of the key findings from the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and a reason why many countries have been unable to reduce disaster impacts.
Adding to the problem, most economic and investment plans remain blind to disaster risks. This is especially common in the private sector, which is responsible for about 75% of investments through the creation of economic assets.
The 2025 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction emphasizes the following two key calls to action:
- Increase funding for disaster risk reduction, within public budgets and international assistance.
- Ensure all public development and private sector investments are risk-informed and resilient.
Play and learn to stop disasters
By funding resilience now, we avoid paying for disasters later. This International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, use the Stop Disasters game to learn about the clear, visible benefits of investing in mitigation and adaptation. From tsunami to wildfire, explore five hazard scenarios to see the opportunities provided by funding resilience - and the cost of inaction.
Facts and figures (GAR 2025)
- Total disaster costs are now exceeding $2.3 trillion annually when indirect and ecosystem impacts are included.
- The number of people exposed to floods globally has also steadily risen from 28.1 million in 1970 to 35.1 million in 2020—an increase of 24.9%. Most flood-related deaths and economic losses are recorded in Asia.
- If all of the countries across the Central America committed to ensuring that all new buildings complied with seismic safety standards, preliminary estimates suggest that around USD 1.1 billion in annual losses could be averted.
- In the decade to 2017, drought affected at least 1.5 billion people and cost USD 125 billion globally. The number of recorded droughts has increased by 29 per cent over the past 20 years.
- Average annual losses from tropical cyclones alone are estimated at USD 119.5 billion, including USD 95.5 billion in infrastructure.
Benefits of resilience
- Resilience pays dividends, but only when countries invest in it.
- Every $1 invested in making infrastructure disaster-resilient in developing countries saves $4 in economic impacts (World Bank).
- By investing in strengthening early warning systems, the Global Commission on Adaptation found that early warnings, issued within 24 hours of an impending hazard, can reduce the damage by around 30%.
- Investments in anticipatory action and enhancing social safety nets can help communities bounce back swiftly after disasters.
- Investing in resilience has benefits across the Humanitarian-Development nexus – it reduces disaster losses, protects development, and reduces humanitarian needs.
How to fund resilience
- Increase funding for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in national budgets and international assistance (development and humanitarian).
- Domestic funding for disaster risk reduction should be “ring-fenced” in national budgets and mainstreamed into sectoral budgets. Tools such as budget tagging and the development of national DRR financing strategies can help.
- Countries with high vulnerability to disasters, such as the Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, countries in Africa, and countries that are fragile and conflict-affected, deserve increased international assistance.
- Ensure development is risk-informed
- Development plans should be aligned with disaster risk reduction priorities. Otherwise, development investments that are risk-blind could lead to the creation of new disaster risks or exacerbate existing ones, thus increasing the odds of a disaster.
- Encourage the private sector to be resilient.
- Businesses should be incentivised to ensure their investments are risk-informed, as they are responsible for the majority of development in countries.
- The financial sector can develop instruments for financing resilience, such as bonds and insurance, and support government efforts through public-private partnerships and blended finance.
Financing is the single challenge that unites the disaster, climate, development, and humanitarian domains. The unique advantage of disaster risk reduction is that it can simultaneously strengthen all the other domains, because of its emphasis on reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience.
Two starkly different paths, “Generation Jolt” and “Generation Regeneration”, illustrate potential futures the world could follow between now and 2050, as envisioned by the United Nations Future Lab.
Countries, rich and poor, are facing disasters that are larger and more destructive. This is partially driven by an increase in extreme weather events, but it is also driven by risk-blind investments, which increase the exposure and vulnerability of people and assets
Kamal Kishore
Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Key messages
- Disasters are a growing threat to economic prosperity and sustainable development, with costs underestimated and unsustainable.
- Disaster costs are pushing countries into spirals of increased debt, lower incomes, increased insurability, and repeated humanitarian crises.
- Declining international assistance makes it even more critical to reduce disaster losses through disaster risk reduction investments.
- Cutting funding for disaster risk reduction leads to more expensive disasters in the future, along with more humanitarian needs.
- To reduce disaster costs, countries must increase funding for disaster risk reduction and ensure all development investments are risk-informed.
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