Question 7

This question was asked to the public in 14 countries in the Gapminder Misconception Study 2017 »


The question

How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last hundred years?

  • A: More than doubled
  • B: Remained more or less the same
  • C: Decreased to less than half


Fact Question 7: Correct answer is C. Annual deaths from natural disasters have decreased by 75 percent over the past 100 years, according to the International Disaster Database; see EM-DAT. Since disasters vary from year to year, we compare ten-year averages. In the last ten years (20072016), on average 80,386 people were killed by natural disasters per year. This is 25 percent of the number 100 years earlier (1907–1916), when it was 325,742 deaths per year.



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Date Posted: 2018-03-09