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The disasters mapped here are caused by insects, or in one case, rats. The main insects are various locusts, grasshoppers and army worms (insect larvae). Disasters occur when numbers are so large as to cause widespread devastation. Insect and vermin infestations are shown here only when they were so severe that the local population required external assistance to survive. The three territories where the largest populations affected by insect infestations live are China, Ethiopia and India. However, the highest proportions of population affected live in Northern African territories. |
“The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt ... and there remained not any green thing." The Bible, undated |
Territory size shows the proportion of all people worldwide affected by disasters due to infestations, usually by insects, between 1974 and 2004, who lived there. A disaster, here, is an event which overwhelms local resources.
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All of the data we use is estimated; 
Open Population Map for comparison