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Income inequality results in higher flood mortality

Paper co-authored by Luigia Brandimarte published in Nature Sustainability

Flood in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.
Flood in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.
Publicerad 2023-05-15

A study that analyzes over 500 severe disasters in 67 middle- and high-income countries, reveals that flood mortality rates are much higher in countries with larger income inequalities.

Rising global economic inequality substantially influences the social vulnerability to natural hazards. In the paper, published in Nature Sustainability , income inequality and flood disasters in 67 middle- and high-income countries between 1990 and 2018 were analyzed, and the study found that unequal countries suffer more flood fatalities. Countries with uneven income distributions had median mortality rates 26 times higher compared to countries with more equal ones. The published paper shows that the link between income inequality and flood mortality persists after controlling for population and GDP.

–For a sustainable flood risk management, policy makers and researchers should put more focus on the increasingly uneven distribution of wealth, says Luigia Brandimarte .

Read the full paper here.

Innehållsansvarig:infomaster@abe.kth.se
Tillhör: Institutionen för hållbar utveckling, miljövetenskap och teknik (SEED)
Senast ändrad: 2023-05-15