Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea: Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters was 2.52 million people in 2015. ◆ Volatile

Latest (2015)
2.52 million people
World rank
15th
of 78 countries
All-time high
2.52 million people
in 2015
All-time low
8,052 people
in 1980
Years of data
5
1980–2015

Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in Papua New Guinea, 1980–2015

01.0M2.0M3.0M1980199720151980: 8.1k people1981: 31.9k people1997: 125.3k people1998: 374.7k people2015: 2.5M people

Source: EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in people.

Analysis

Papua New Guinea recorded 2.52 million people for annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in 2015. That is the highest value across all 5 years on record.

Over the whole period, annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in Papua New Guinea peaked at 2.52 million people in 2015 and was at its lowest, 8,052 people, in 1980.

That places Papua New Guinea 15th out of 78 countries with data for 2015, putting it in the top quarter.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1980s 20,000 people 8,052 people 31,948 people 2
1990s 250,000 people 125,256 people 374,744 people 2
2010s 2.52 million people 2.52 million people 2.52 million people 1

Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea

  1. 12 Burkina Faso 3.50 million people compare
  2. 13 Malawi 3.48 million people compare
  3. 14 Ethiopia 3.35 million people compare
  4. 16 Cambodia 2.50 million people compare
  5. 16 Mexico 2.50 million people compare
  6. 18 Cameroon 2.39 million people compare

See the full ranking of 78 places →

More reference data data for Papua New Guinea

All data for Papua New Guinea →

Frequently asked questions

What is annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in Papua New Guinea?
Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters in Papua New Guinea was 2.52 million people in 2015, according to EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest annual number of people affected by all natural disasters recorded in Papua New Guinea?
The highest recorded value was 2.52 million people in 2015.
What is the lowest annual number of people affected by all natural disasters recorded in Papua New Guinea?
The lowest recorded value was 8,052 people in 1980.
How does Papua New Guinea rank for annual number of people affected by all natural disasters?
Papua New Guinea ranks 15th out of 78 countries with data for 2015.
Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
The figures come from EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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About this data

Indicator
Annual number of people affected by all natural disasters
Unit
people
Source
EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
78 places, 1,202 data points, 1900–2025
Last refreshed

Total number of people affected by a natural disaster.