Extracting water from a traditional well using a manual pulley system. (Abdallah Khalili / UNCCD)
Some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history have unfolded since 2023, a new UN-backed report has found.
The analysis on worldwide drought hotspots, prepared by the US National Drought Mitigation Centre and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, found that global climate patterns in 2023 and 2024 set the stage for severe drought impacts worldwide that are continuing into 2025.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2023 and 2024 were the two warmest years on record globally .On 22 July 2024, Earth experienced its hottest day ever recorded.
High temperatures and a lack of precipitation had widespread ramifications in 2023 and 2024, such as water supply shortages, low food supplies and power rationing, the report said.
“In parts of Africa, tens of millions of people faced food insecurity, malnutrition and displacement as thousands of human lives were lost due to drought-induced food shortages.”
Since 2023, global droughts have had widespread effects that exposed and worsened existing social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
“Understanding which areas and populations were most affected, and why, is essential for informing future mitigation strategies, improving resilience planning and supporting equitable policy responses,” the report said.
The analysis synthesised information from hundreds of government, scientific and media sources to highlight effects within the most acute drought hotspots in Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia), the Mediterranean (Spain, Morocco, Türkiye), Latin America (Panama, Amazon Basin), South-East Asia and beyond.
The 2023–2024 El Niño event amplified already harsh climate change impacts, triggering dry conditions across major agricultural and ecological zones. The consequences of drought hit hardest in climate hotspots, which are “regions already suffering from warming trends, population pressures and fragile infrastructure”.
Women, children, the elderly, pastoralists, subsistence farmers and people with chronic illness are most vulnerable to the effects of drought. They face health risks including cholera outbreaks, acute malnutrition, dehydration and exposure to polluted water.
A recent drought in Spain. (UNCCD)
Drought hotspots: Eastern and Southern Africa
- More than 90 million people across Eastern and Southern Africa face acute hunger. Some areas have been enduring their worst-ever recorded drought, the report said.
- In East Africa, forced child marriages more than doubled as families sought dowries to survive. Though outlawed in Ethiopia, child marriages more than doubled in frequency in the four regions hit hardest by the drought.
- In Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, maize and wheat crops have failed repeatedly.
- In Zimbabwe alone, the 2024 corn crop was down 70% year on year, and maize prices doubled, while 9 000 cattle died of thirst and starvation. Entire school districts saw mass dropouts due to hunger, costs and sanitation issues for girls.
- In Somalia, the government estimated 43 000 people died in 2022 alone because of drought-linked hunger. As of early 2025, 4.4 million people — a quarter of the population — face crisis-level food insecurity, including 784 000 expected to reach emergency levels.
- Zambia suffered one of the world’s worst energy crises as the Zambezi River plummeted to 20% of its long-term average in April 2024. The country’s largest hydroelectric plant, the Kariba Dam, fell to 7% generation capacity, causing blackouts of up to 21 hours a day and shuttering hospitals, bakeries and factories. To address the hydropower shortages along the Zambezi River, Zimbabwe and Zambia both increased their use of coal in 2024.
Mediterranean
- Water shortages in Spain hit agriculture, tourism and domestic supply. By September 2023, two years of drought and record heat caused a 50% drop in Spain’s olive crop, causing olive oil prices to double across the country.
-In Morocco, the sheep population was 38% smaller in 2025 relative to 2016, prompting a royal plea to cancel traditional Eid sacrifices.
- In Türkiye, drought accelerated groundwater depletion, triggering sinkholes that present hazards to communities and their infrastructure while permanently reducing aquifer storage capacity.
The Mediterranean countries represent canaries in the coal mine for all modern economies, said Mark Svoboda, a report co-author, in a statement.
“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.”
Latin America
- Record-low river levels in 2023 and 2024 in the Amazon Basin led to the mass deaths of fish and 200 endangered river dolphins and disrupted drinking water and transport for hundreds of thousands. As deforestation and fires intensify, the Amazon risks transitioning from a carbon sink to a carbon source.
- In the Panama Canal, water levels dropped so low that transits were slashed by over one-third (from 38 to 24 ships daily between October 2023 and January 2024), causing major global trade disruptions.
“Facing multi-week delays, many ships were rerouted to longer, costlier paths via the Suez Canal or South Africa’s infamous Cape of Good Hope. Among the knock-on effects, US soybean exports slowed and grocery stores in the UK reported shortages and rising prices of fruits and vegetables.”
South-East Asia
Drought disrupted production and supply chains of key crops such as rice, coffee and sugar. In 2023-24, dry conditions in Thailand and India, for example, triggered shortages leading to a 8.9% increase in the price of sugar in the US.
Drought didn’t spare the natural world either, the report said, noting that between August and December 2023, 100 elephants died in Zimbabwe’s Hwange Park because of starvation and limited access to water. Hippos were stranded in dry riverbeds in Botswana in 2024.
“Some countries last year culled wild animals (for example, 200 elephants in Zimbabwe and Namibia) to feed rural communities and protect ecosystems from overgrazing.”
The analysis called for urgent investments in drought preparedness, including stronger early-warning systems and real-time drought and drought impact monitoring, including conditions contributing to food and water insecurity; nature-based solutions such as watershed restoration and indigenous crop use; resilient infrastructure, including off-grid energy and alternative water supply technologies and gender-responsive adaptation.