Asia Warms Nearly Twice as Fast as the World as Heat, Floods and Rising Seas Take Their Toll

A hotter continent faces mounting losses

Asia recorded its hottest or second hottest year in 2024, with average temperatures 1.04°C (1.87°F) above the 1991–2020 average. Across the continent, extreme heat, destructive floods, drought and melting glaciers are putting lives, food supplies and water resources under growing pressure.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in its State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report, says Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average. Its warming trend between 1991 and 2024 was also nearly double the trend during the previous three decades, from 1961 to 1990.

Asia is home to more than half the world's population. Faster warming therefore reaches deep into daily life: it affects the conditions in which people work, the water available to farms, the safety of homes and the ability of health services to respond when disasters strike. Damage already runs into billions of dollars, with consequences stretching from the Himalayas to coastal communities and Pacific Islands.

The temperature figure of 1.04°C measures the difference from the 1991–2020 baseline, a reference period used to compare recent conditions. The warming rate describes how quickly temperatures change over time. Together, these measurements show both an exceptionally hot year and a sustained rise in temperatures.

Why Asia is heating so quickly

Asia stretches from the equator to the Arctic and contains a vast landmass. Land heats faster than ocean water because it has a lower heat capacity, meaning less energy is needed to raise its temperature. It also distributes heat less evenly than the oceans. As the planet warms, those physical differences help explain why temperatures over Asia are rising so quickly.

The Indian and Pacific Oceans surrounding much of the region are also warming. The WMO report gives a rise in Asia's sea surface temperatures of 0.24°C per decade, compared with a global mean of 0.13°C per decade. The regional rate is nearly twice the global figure.

Warmer seas raise sea levels and support more intense and frequent marine heatwaves, periods when ocean temperatures remain unusually high. Those conditions damage marine ecosystems and place coastal communities under additional pressure. Asia's climate risks therefore come from changes on land and at sea, with both affecting livelihoods and natural systems.

Heat records spread across the region

Japan had its warmest year on record in 2024, exceeding the record set just one year earlier. Across East Asia, including Japan, South Korea and China, monthly average temperatures reached record levels from April to November.

Myanmar set a national temperature record of 48.2°C (118.7°F) in April. Parts of India experienced temperatures above 44°C (111°F), with hundreds of deaths associated with heat. Prolonged and severe heatwaves affected much of Asia during the year.

The WMO report describes heatwaves as the deadliest type of extreme weather worldwide, responsible for nearly half a million deaths each year. In Asia, increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather is part of the broader pattern driven by climate change, and the toll from heat is rising as people struggle with both its effects on the body and the limits of infrastructure.

Extreme heat makes it harder for the body to regulate its temperature. When that process fails, heatstroke and other illnesses can follow. Older people, children and people with existing health conditions face greater risks. Heat also creates a practical challenge for communities: protecting people requires health services and infrastructure that can function during prolonged periods of dangerous temperatures.

Floods, drought and a deadly cyclone

Tropical Cyclone Yagi struck Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and China in 2024. More than 1,000 people died, and hundreds of thousands of buildings were destroyed. Its destruction was part of a year in which storms, heavy rainfall and landslides caused major casualties and economic losses.

Kerala, in southern India, suffered extreme rainfall in July, with more than 350 deaths. Nepal experienced record rainfall in September, followed by severe floods that killed at least 246 people and caused damage exceeding US$94 million.

China faced the opposite water problem. Drought affected nearly 4.8 million people, devastated crops across more than 335,000 hectares and caused direct economic losses above US$400 million. Farms and communities can face serious losses whether water arrives in overwhelming amounts or fails to arrive when needed.

The year's events show how these pressures unfolded across different seasons and places:

• April 2024: Myanmar recorded a national temperature high of 48.2°C.
• April to November 2024: East Asia experienced record monthly average temperatures.
• July 2024: Extreme rainfall in Kerala caused more than 350 deaths.
• September 2024: Record rainfall and severe flooding in Nepal killed at least 246 people.
• Across 2024: Yagi caused widespread destruction across six countries, while drought damaged crops and livelihoods in China.

Floods can destroy crops, homes and roads within hours. Drought can gradually exhaust water supplies and damage harvests. Both undermine food security, interrupt livelihoods and stretch emergency services, leaving communities to cope with very different forms of the same basic need: reliable access to water.

Mountain ice losses threaten water supplies

Asia's high mountain regions contain the largest volume of ice outside the polar regions, earning them the name Third Pole. Glaciers in the Himalayas and Tian Shan are retreating as reduced snowfall in winter combines with extreme heat in summer.

Of 24 monitored glaciers in the region, 23 lost mass during 2023–2024. Glaciers gain ice from accumulated snow and lose it through melting. When losses exceed gains, the amount of stored ice shrinks. The monitoring figures show how widespread that loss was among the glaciers observed.

Melting ice also increases the risk of glacial lake outburst floods. Water can collect in lakes near glaciers and then escape suddenly, sending destructive flooding downstream. Communities below the mountains therefore face an immediate danger from water released too quickly, alongside a longer term threat from diminishing ice reserves.

Hundreds of millions of people depend on rivers supplied by glacier melt for drinking water, farming and hydropower. Retreating glaciers threaten the future availability of those resources. Less reliable water supplies can increase the risk of displacement and conflict, particularly where households, agriculture and electricity production depend on the same rivers.

Warmer oceans and higher seas

Nearly 15 million square kilometers of Asian ocean experienced marine heatwaves of strong, severe or extreme intensity in 2024. The original assessment describes that area as about one tenth of the world's ocean surface. The unprecedented warming is pushing sea levels higher, changing ocean currents and disrupting marine ecosystems.

Sea levels along Asia's Pacific and Indian Ocean coasts are rising faster than the global average. Warmer water takes up more space, while melting ice adds water to the oceans. For coastal communities, a higher starting sea level increases the pressure on shorelines, settlements and freshwater supplies.

Bangladesh, China, India and Pacific Island nations are among the places particularly vulnerable to rising seas. Nearly 900 million people live in areas at acute risk. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2025 identifies sea level rise as one of the leading threats facing the world over the coming decade.

These changes connect offshore conditions with life on land. Marine heatwaves harm the ecosystems on which coastal livelihoods depend, while higher seas threaten homes and services. Communities must contend with both pressures as warming continues.

Pacific Islands face flooding and relocation

Tuvalu, Kiribati and Fiji have already experienced major increases in coastal flooding, shoreline retreat and saltwater entering freshwater supplies. Entire villages have been moved to safer ground in some cases, including in Fiji.

The low island settings described in the account have an average elevation of just one to two meters above sea level, leaving them especially vulnerable to even small increases in the height of the ocean. Saltwater intrusion adds another problem: water needed for drinking and daily use can become harder to obtain even where homes remain standing.

The WMO says sea levels in parts of the western tropical Pacific have risen by 10–15 centimeters since 1993, nearly twice the global average. Projections indicate another 15 centimeters of rise over the next three decades, even if greenhouse gas emissions are brought under control.

Relocation shows what these measurements can mean for families. Rising seas can require communities to leave established homes and rebuild elsewhere. For islands and other low coastal areas, protecting freshwater, planning settlements and deciding where people can safely live are already practical concerns.

Disasters deepen economic and food pressures

Asia was the world's region most affected by disasters involving weather, climate and water in 2023, according to the WMO. That year brought 79 reported disasters, more than 2,000 deaths and nine million people directly affected.

Floods and storms caused the highest reported casualties and economic losses, while the effects of heatwaves grew more severe. Across the region, extreme weather has destroyed infrastructure, disrupted economic activity and inflicted billions of dollars in damage.

Agriculture is particularly exposed because crops depend on suitable temperatures and enough water at the right time. Heatwaves, drought and floods can reduce production or destroy harvests, threatening food security for hundreds of millions of people. Damaged infrastructure and interrupted livelihoods add to the strain on households already struggling to obtain enough food.

The World Food Programme reports that 770 million people faced hunger in 2020, predominantly in Africa and Asia. Climate shocks make that challenge harder by disrupting food systems, reducing crop yields and increasing the frequency of foodborne diseases. The consequences reach beyond farms to the health and financial security of the people who depend on them.

Health risks extend beyond heatstroke

The World Health Organization (WHO) projects approximately 250,000 additional deaths each year between 2030 and 2050 from undernutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress alone. Countries with weak health infrastructure, mostly developing countries, are least able to cope without assistance.

Heatwaves have already contributed to a 70% increase in deaths associated with heat among people older than 65 over the past two decades. Older people, children and those with existing illnesses are especially vulnerable when temperatures overwhelm the body's ability to cool itself.

Floods and storms can bring outbreaks of diseases spread through contaminated water or carried by insects and other organisms. Drought can worsen shortages of food and safe water. These routes explain why a climate disaster can continue harming health after the immediate emergency has passed.

Displacement and disasters also affect mental health, contributing to anxiety, depression and stress after traumatic events. Health services therefore face a range of needs, from emergency treatment during heatwaves to support for people whose homes, livelihoods or communities have been disrupted.

Warnings help, but services remain uneven

Nepal's investment in flood early warning systems helped communities prepare for evacuation during the record floods of September 2024 and reduced casualties. The WMO report points to early warnings and action taken before a disaster as ways to save lives and protect livelihoods.

A warning system turns information about a likely hazard into time to act. In Nepal's case, that meant helping communities prepare to leave threatened areas. The same principle underlies disaster preparedness: forecasts are most useful when people and emergency services can respond before danger arrives.

About 80% of WMO members in Asia provide climate services to support disaster risk reduction. Fewer than half, however, offer the tailored products needed for effective risk management and adaptation. Climate services make weather and climate information useful for decisions; tailored services address the particular needs of a place, sector or community.

Expanding access to warnings, improving infrastructure and investing in agriculture and health systems that can withstand climate pressures are priorities identified in the account. Protecting vulnerable people requires both information about approaching hazards and the capacity to act on it.

Emissions cuts and adaptation serve different needs

Asia's warming is part of a global rise in temperatures. In 2023, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, the world's three principal greenhouse gases, reached unprecedented highs. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere.

The global average temperature near the surface in 2023 was 1.45°C above the average before industrialization, making it the warmest year on record at that time. The world was approaching the 1.5°C warming threshold in the Paris Agreement. This comparison uses a different reference period from Asia's 1.04°C figure, which is measured against 1991–2020.

Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at the Grantham Institute, described the urgency of reducing emissions and the increasing danger associated with each further increment of warming:

1.5 degrees of warming is just around the corner and it will take a Herculean effort to avoid it. This is deeply concerning, but crossing it makes the target more important because every fraction of warming—whether it is 1.6, 2 or 3 degrees—creates a more dangerous world and the longer we stay above 1.5 degrees, the higher the losses and damages for people will be.

Warming beyond 1.5°C increases risks including dangerous sea level rise, coral reef collapse and melting ice sheets. Estimates suggest unchecked climate change could cost trillions of dollars by the end of the century.

Reducing emissions addresses the cause of warming. Adaptation addresses the damage and risks communities already face. Both are needed: cleaner energy and more efficient energy use can limit future warming, while stronger infrastructure and preparedness can help protect people now.

The actions described for Asia include:

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy, improved energy efficiency and sustainable land use.
• Investing in infrastructure able to withstand climate hazards, early warning systems and disaster preparedness.
• Strengthening health services to respond to heat, diseases carried by insects and other organisms, and food insecurity.
• Supporting vulnerable countries through climate finance, technology transfer and training.
• Involving local communities in planning so that adaptation meets local needs and includes those affected.

South Korea and the Maldives are experimenting with floating homes. China and India are developing systems to absorb and store stormwater for reuse, while villages in Fiji have moved to safer ground. These responses address different pressures, from excess rainfall to rising seas, and show how adaptation is already changing infrastructure and settlement decisions.

Key Points

• Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, and 2024 was its hottest or second hottest year.
• Yagi killed more than 1,000 people, while floods, drought and extreme heat caused further deaths and major losses.
• Twenty three of 24 monitored glaciers lost mass in 2023–2024, threatening water supplies and increasing flood risks.
• Marine heatwaves and rising seas are putting coastal ecosystems, freshwater supplies and settlements under pressure.
• Climate shocks are damaging agriculture, worsening food insecurity and increasing physical and mental health risks.
• Nepal's flood warnings helped communities prepare, but tailored climate services remain limited across Asia.
• Reducing emissions and investing in adaptation are both needed to limit warming and protect vulnerable communities.