Before you move: natural disasters
The Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia and Mexico carry the highest risk: hazards strike often and people are less protected when they do. Japan is hit as often but protects people far better. 28 of the 46 are rarely hit at all. Two numbers decide how much natural disasters should worry you: how often earthquakes, storms, floods and droughts strike, and how well people are protected when they do, by sound buildings, good hospitals and the means to recover. The WorldRiskReport scores both for every country. Each dot is one of the countries with a remote-work visa; the list below gives each in plain words.
Tap a dot for its numbers. Tap it again, or the link below, to open the country.Hover over a dot for details. Click it to open the country profile.
Source: WorldRiskReport 2026, Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft and IFHV. geo-reality.com
Highest risk
The Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia and Mexico. Hazards strike often, and housing, health care and the means to recover protect people less than in most of the list. If you move there, check where you live: coast, river plain and fault line matter.
Hit often, well protected
Japan. As exposed as the highest-risk group, but people are far better protected when something strikes: overall 22.7, against 39.2 to 46.7 for the highest-risk group.
Rarely hit
28 of the 46 score under 5 on exposure; Hungary, Malta, Czechia and Cape Verde lowest of all. There, natural disasters are a small part of the decision whatever the protection score.
The chart plots only countries with both figures from the sources below. A missing figure stays missing; we don't fill gaps. Countries without a complete pair:
The number is the overall score out of 100, higher is worse.
Philippines46.7Hit often, little protection46.7
Indonesia44.6Hit often, little protection44.6
Colombia39.8Hit often, little protection39.8
Mexico39.2Hit often, middling protection39.2
Japan22.7Hit often, well protected22.7
Thailand21.1Hit sometimes, middling protection21.1
Ecuador20.8Hit sometimes, middling protection20.8
Panama18.2Hit sometimes, middling protection18.2
Argentina15.7Hit sometimes, middling protection15.7
South Africa15.1Hit sometimes, middling protection15.1
Turkey14.6Hit sometimes, middling protection14.6
Kenya13.3Rarely hit, little protection13.3
Malaysia12.9Hit sometimes, middling protection12.9
Brazil12.8Hit sometimes, middling protection12.8
Costa Rica12.1Hit sometimes, well protected12.1
Italy11.0Hit sometimes, well protected11.0
South Korea10.2Hit sometimes, well protected10.2
Greece10.1Hit sometimes, well protected10.1
Spain9.7Hit sometimes, well protected9.7
United Arab Emirates8.5Rarely hit, middling protection8.5
Sri Lanka7.6Rarely hit, middling protection7.6
Namibia7.2Rarely hit, middling protection7.2
Belize5.9Rarely hit, middling protection5.9
Albania5.8Rarely hit, well protected5.8
Portugal5.4Rarely hit, well protected5.4
Uruguay5.1Rarely hit, middling protection5.1
Croatia4.8Rarely hit, middling protection4.8
Germany4.3Rarely hit, well protected4.3
Bahamas4.0Rarely hit, well protected4.0
Barbados3.9Rarely hit, middling protection3.9
Slovenia3.7Rarely hit, well protected3.7
Dominica3.4Rarely hit, well protected3.4
Antigua and Barbuda3.3Rarely hit, well protected3.3
Romania3.3Rarely hit, middling protection3.3
Latvia3.2Rarely hit, well protected3.2
Cyprus3.1Rarely hit, well protected3.1
Mauritius3.1Rarely hit, middling protection3.1
Kyrgyzstan3.0Rarely hit, little protection3.0
Montenegro2.8Rarely hit, well protected2.8
Kazakhstan2.2Rarely hit, middling protection2.2
Estonia2.0Rarely hit, well protected2.0
Seychelles1.9Rarely hit, well protected1.9
Cape Verde1.5Rarely hit, middling protection1.5
Czechia1.2Rarely hit, middling protection1.2
Malta1.0Rarely hit, well protected1.0
Hungary0.8Rarely hit, well protected0.8Plain words: "hit often" is an exposure of 25 or more, "rarely hit" under 5. "Well protected" is a vulnerability under 15, "little protection" 35 or more. All scores run from 0 to 100, higher is worse.
Sources. Risk: WorldRiskReport 2026 (Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft and IFHV), index workbook downloaded from weltrisikobericht.de on 12 November 2026, licence CC BY 4.0; the workbook sheet is titled "Results 2025" and the publisher's trend file gives the same values under 2026. The overall WorldRiskIndex is the geometric mean of exposure and vulnerability. Countries: those with a remote-work visa route in our visa data, checked against official government pages on 12 November 2026 (details on each country profile). Exposure is drawn on a log scale; values under 0.1 sit at the left edge. Full methodology →