Coastal flooding - Cities and FUAs — Built-up area exposure to in Whatcom
Whatcom: Coastal flooding - Cities and FUAs — Built-up area exposure to was 2.32 Percentage of built-up area in 2022. ▲ Rising
Coastal flooding - Cities and FUAs — Built-up area exposure to in Whatcom, 2000–2022
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Percentage of built-up area.
Analysis
Whatcom recorded 2.32 Percentage of built-up area for coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to in 2022.
That represents a change of down 0.2% on the previous year and down 1.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to in Whatcom peaked at 2.35 Percentage of built-up area in 2009 and was at its lowest, 1.96 Percentage of built-up area, in 2002.
That places Whatcom 95th out of 1324 regions with data for 2022, putting it in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 23 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2.22 Percentage of built-up area | 1.96 Percentage of built-up area | 2.35 Percentage of built-up area | 10 |
| 2010s | 2.34 Percentage of built-up area | 2.34 Percentage of built-up area | 2.35 Percentage of built-up area | 10 |
| 2020s | 2.32 Percentage of built-up area | 2.32 Percentage of built-up area | 2.34 Percentage of built-up area | 3 |
More reference data data for Whatcom
- Cooling and heating degree days - Cities and FUAs — Cooling degree 2.69 Degree days (2025)
- Cooling and heating degree days - Cities and FUAs — Change in cooling -26.59 Degree days (2025)
- Cooling and heating degree days - Cities and FUAs 3,338 Degree days (2025)
- Cooling and heating degree days - Cities and FUAs — Change in heating -414.7 Degree days (2025)
- Precipitation - Cities and FUAs — Extreme precipitation days 25.44 Days per year (2024)
- Precipitation - Cities and FUAs — Change in extreme precipitation -1.88 Days per year (2024)
- Dependency ratio - Cities and FUAs 29.8 Percentage of population aged 15-64 years (2024)
- Wind threats - Cities and FUAs — Exposure to wind threats 43.38 Percentage of area (2023)
- Main mode of transport to work - Cities and FUAs — Employed persons 96,302 Persons (2023)
- Internet speed - Cities and FUAs — Downloading speed -14 Percentage of national value (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to in Whatcom?
- Coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to in Whatcom was 2.32 Percentage of built-up area in 2022, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- What is the highest coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to recorded in Whatcom?
- The highest recorded value was 2.35 Percentage of built-up area in 2009.
- What is the lowest coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to recorded in Whatcom?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.96 Percentage of built-up area in 2002.
- How does Whatcom rank for coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to?
- Whatcom ranks 95th out of 1324 regions with data for 2022.
- Is coastal flooding - cities and fuas — built-up area exposure to rising or falling in Whatcom?
- Over the last ten years it is down 1.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Whatcom data come from?
- The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Coastal flooding - Cities and FUAs — Built-up area exposure to coastal flooding. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 23 observations, free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required).
About this data
<p align="justify">This dataset provides indicators of population and built-up exposure to coastal floods.</p> <h3>Data sources and methodology</h3> <p align="justify">Coastal flooding indicators are estimated using the Global coastal flood hazard maps <a href=https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11969>(Muis, S. et al., 2016)</a>. This dataset provides the extent of coastal floods for different return periods (10 to 100 years) with a 1-kilometre resolution. A return period corresponds to the estimated time interval between floods of similar intensity. Built-up area exposure to coastal floods is computed by intersecting this map with Copernius annual land cover data <a href=https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.006f2c9a>(Copernicus Climate Change Service, Climate Data Store, 2019)</a> and population exposure is computed using the Global Human Settlement Population layer <a href=https://doi.org/10.2760/098587>(European Commission, GHSL Data Package 2023)</a>. Harmonised international hazard models are used to ensure global comparability, consistent modelling assumptions across countries, and complete subnational coverage. These estimates may differ from official subnational flood risk statistics due to differences in methodological approaches - such as the use of global, modelled top down hazard maps versus national hydrological models or administrative flood zone delineations - as well as variations in input data sources, spatial resolution, and hydraulic modelling techniques.</p> <h3>Defining FUAs and cities</h3> <p align="justify">The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised <a href="https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-definition-of-cities-and-functional-urban-areas.html">definition of functional urban areas</a> (FUAs) to capture the economic and functional reach of cities based on daily commuting patterns <a href=https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264174108-en>(OECD, 2012)</a>. FUAs consist of: <ol> <li><b>A city</b> – defined by urban centres in the degree of urbanisation, adapted to the closest local administrative units to define a city.</li> <li><b>A commuting zone</b> – including all local areas where at least 15% of employed residents work in the city.</li> </ol> The delineation process includes: <ul> <li>Assigning municipalities surrounded by a single FUA to that FUA.</li> <li>Excluding non-contiguous municipalities.</li> </ul> The correspondence table between SAUs and FUAs/cities is available in <a href=https://webfs-cfe.oecd.org/files/.Stat/cities_local_areas/fua_cities_sau_mapping.parquet>parquet </a> and <a href=https://webfs-cfe.oecd.org/files/.Stat/cities_local_areas/fua_cities_sau_mapping.csv>csv</a> format. The definition identifies 1 272 FUAs and 1 269 cities in all OECD member countries except Costa Rica and three accession countries.</p> <h3>Cite this dataset</h3> <p>OECD Regions, cities and local areas database (<a href="http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/1da">Coastal flooding - Cities and FUAs</a>), <a href=http://oe.cd/geostats>http://oe.cd/geostats</a></p> <h3>Further information</h3> <ul> <li> <a href=https://localdataportal.oecd.org/>OECD Local Data Portal </a> </li> <li> <a href=https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-regions-and-cities-at-a-glance-2024_f42db3bf-en.html/>OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance </a> </li> </ul> <p align="justify">For questions and/or comments, please email <a href="mailto:CitiesStat@oecd.org">CitiesStat@oecd.org</a>