Has the global impact of natural disasters declined in the 21st century?

During the first two decades of this century, the planet has seen increased impact from natural disasters—in terms of both human lives and economic losses—compared to the prior twenty years.

The U.N., using data from the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, reports that 1.23 million lives were lost to natural disasters between 2000 and 2019, compared to 1.19 million lives lost between 1980 and 1999. Economic losses during the last twenty years totaled $2.97 trillion, vs. $1.63 trillion during 1980-1999.

The human toll of disasters declined generally in the second half of the 20th century. The UN says that the increase in recent decades can be explained by disasters related to climate change such as floods, storms and extreme temperatures. It reports there were nearly twice as many climate-related events in the 2000-2019 cycle as in the previous two decades.