Washington, DC — As the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank get underway, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has updated and relaunched a dashboard to track the debt distress and climate vulnerability of low- and middle-income countries around the world. The tool is a response to concerns over the growing debt and climate crises affecting many countries in the Global South, a major focus of last year’s UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville and the Jubilee Commission of Experts conference at the Vatican. Economists expect these crises are likely to worsen due to price increases for oil and food resulting from the Iran war.

“Many low- and middle-income countries were already in a debt crisis and unable to adequately respond to the global climate crisis,” CEPR Senior Research Associate Ivana Vasic-Lalovic, who created the dashboard, said. “Now the Iran war and the disruptions and shortages it is causing are making these challenges much more difficult.” 

The dashboard includes data on 118 low- and middle-income countries as reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank International Debt Statistics. The data is mapped along with the countries’ respective climate vulnerability.

As of March 2026, 75 low- and middle-income countries evaluated by the IMF and credit rating agencies were either already facing a debt crisis or are at risk of one. A significant majority of these — 61 countries — are also highly climate vulnerable, underscoring the intersection between unsustainable debt burdens and climate risks. Developing countries are forced to choose between meeting debt obligations and investing in vital public services, climate resilience, infrastructure, and other Sustainable Development Goals. 

“The debt and climate crises are interconnected,” Vasic-Lalovic said. “Developing countries shouldn’t have to choose between paying off debt and funding climate preparedness and response.”

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