Title: The effects of natural disasters on human development in developing and developed countries

Authors: Adnan Akram; Faisal Jamil; Shahzad Alvi

Addresses: School of Social Science and Humanities (S3H), National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan ' School of Social Science and Humanities (S3H), National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan ' School of Social Science and Humanities (S3H), National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract: The weather related disasters are rising worldwide due to global warming. Nowadays, the countries are more vulnerable to climatic disasters and thus face more extensively the risk of loss of life and property. Natural disasters have been identified as major threats to human development. The present study attempts to identify the effect of natural disasters on the human development index (HDI). The sample consists of 30 countries from all over the world and data ranges from 1990 to 2018. We use the generalised method of moments (GMM) to estimate the model. The results indicate that disaster related vulnerability negatively affects HDI, wherein developing countries are more vulnerable than developed countries. However, countries with higher literacy rates, better institutions, higher per capita income, and a higher degree of openness to international trade are more able to absorb the climatic shock.

Keywords: vulnerability index; institution resilience; per capita income; climate change; generalised method of moments; GMMs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2022.123279

International Journal of Global Warming, 2022 Vol.27 No.2, pp.155 - 172

Received: 20 Jun 2021
Accepted: 19 Oct 2021
Published online: 07 Jun 2022 *

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