UN Warns of Soaring Economic Losses and Human Suffering as Droughts Intensify Globally

Over the past two years, the world has experienced some of the most severe droughts ever recorded, events that scientists attribute to climate change, which they say has intensified and become more likely. A new analysis from the United Nations puts it plainly: we are not just dealing with dry spells. According to Dr. Mark Svoboda, co-author of the report and director of the US National Drought Mitigation Centre, “This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever seen.”

The economic consequences of drought are mounting fast. Today, a single drought episode costs at least twice as much as it did in 2000. And if the current trajectory holds, that figure could double again by 2035.

The report underscores a sobering reality: Drought is no longer a distant threat. It's already affecting millions of people across the globe, from rural villages in Africa to the heart of Europe and agricultural regions in Asia.

In 2023 and 2024, the climate crisis intersected with a powerful El Niño event, exacerbating the situation. The result? Widespread water scarcity across major farming zones and ecosystems.

Eastern and Southern Africa were particularly hard-hit. More than 90 million people are now facing severe hunger following record-breaking droughts that decimated local food production. In Somalia alone, a million people have been displaced. A staggering quarter of the population there is suffering from acute hunger.

The cascading effects have been devastating. School dropout rates are rising. Families, desperate for income, are increasingly turning to child marriage for dowry. In many cases, it's a last resort.

No country is immune:

Zooming out, the report offers a global assessment. Drawing on data from local governments, field reports, and scientific analysis, it identifies twelve drought hotspots, including regions in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Among the most affected are Spain, Morocco, and Türkiye.

In each of these countries, drought has severely impacted agriculture and tourism, depleted water supplies, and disrupted everything from energy production to manufacturing. In Morocco, for instance, water demand in January 2024 outpaced supply by 57%. Six consecutive years of drought have pushed the nation into crisis. With agriculture collapsing, unemployment has surged past 13%. The government is now leaning on desalination to make up the shortfall, an energy-heavy solution that carries a steep environmental and economic price tag.

In Türkiye, almost 90% of the land is at risk of desertification. In 2023, three provinces recorded rainfall levels more than 40% below average. Rice yields dropped sharply. To cope, farmers started using water-saving techniques and tapping reservoirs located much farther away.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the situation has only worsened. Following a record year of high temperatures in 2022, soil moisture levels have yet to recover. Water shortages stretched well into 2024. Catalonia implemented water restrictions in early 2023, affecting approximately six million people. By April, some villages had run entirely out of water and were relying on emergency deliveries by truck.

Between 1980 and 2023, Spain’s average water availability fell by 12%. That number could decline by another 14% to 20% by 2050. And the country wasn’t ready. Only one in four municipalities with a population exceeding 20,000 had a drought response plan in place.

Dr Svoboda said: “The struggles experienced by Spain, Morocco and Türkiye to secure water, food, and energy under persistent drought offer a preview of water futures under unchecked global warming. No country, regardless of wealth or capacity, can afford to be complacent.”

Looking ahead, the outlook is grim. For every 2°C of warming, water availability in the Mediterranean could drop by as much as 15%. Climate models predict we’ll hit at least 2°C of warming by 2050, and possibly 3°C to 5°C by the end of the century. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, Europe is warming at double the global rate.