In 2023, over 24 million people were displaced within their own countries, driven by powerful natural disasters such as floods, storms, earthquakes, and wildfires. The top five most affected countries — China, Türkiye, Philippines, Somalia, and Pakistan — saw the largest movements of people, with millions forced to leave their homes in the wake of these devastating events. This visualization highlights the scale of displacement in these regions, offering insights into how these disasters triggered widespread human movement and impacted communities across the globe.
The map you’ve just explored translates those headline figures into geography, scaling each
circle to
show how many people were uprooted in the year’s five hardest-hit
nations. Keep scrolling and the story
deepens: the bubble clusters that follow unpack
the raw numbers, revealing which hazards—floods,
storms, earthquakes, wildfires, or droughts—powered each country’s
crisis. By shifting the bubbles into
hazard groups, you can watch distinct risk
profiles emerge, moving seamlessly from a
panoramic view of displacement to a close-up
of the forces that made these five countries
rise to the top. Use
the Disaster Grouping toggle to regroup the bubbles by hazard and see
each
country's risk profile line up side-by-side
Although earthquakes can trigger sudden, outsized waves of movement, the relentless rhythm of
floods and storms steadily pushes displacement totals higher year after year.
Together, these climate-linked hazards account for three-quarters of all people on
the move across the five spotlighted nations.
Seen side by side, the visuals reveal not just who was hit hardest
in 2023, but why strengthening day-to-day resilience to water- and wind-driven
disasters now matters as much as preparing for the next big quake.