Climate change

WMO: 2025 Among Driest Years for World's Rivers in 35 Years

Is the world running out of accessible fresh water, or is the real crisis how badly it's managed?

5 hours ago·Updated 3 hours ago

WMO: 2025 Among Driest Years for World's Rivers in 35 Years

Story

Above: Drought at the Zywiec water reservoir in Poland on Sept. 15. Image credit: Omar Marques/Anadolu/Getty Images

The Facts

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on Thursday that 2025 was among the driest in 35 years for the world's rivers, with below-normal flows across roughly 36% of the global river basin area, according to its State of Global Water Resources report.
World Meteorological Organization
The Guardian
The Straits Times
For the seventh consecutive year, the WMO stated that the share of river basins with "normal" flow conditions was in the minority, ranging from 34% to 38%, compared with the recorded average of 46% between 1991 and 2020.
World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
The report also showed that terrestrial water storage exhibited signs of "persistent" decline since 2014-2016, with below-average conditions across 42% of the world's landmass, including North America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and more.
World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
Elsewhere, glaciers lost 408 gigatonnes of mass in the 2025 hydrological year, causing a 1.1-millimeter rise in sea level and marking the fourth straight year that every major glaciated region recorded a net loss, with 1,400 gigatonnes lost from 2023 to 2025.
World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
RTE.ie
The WMO added that 65% of groundwater observation stations recorded levels outside the historical norm (34% below and 31% above) in 2025, with persistent deficits logged in parts of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, India, southern Africa and Australia.
World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization
Meanwhile, water-related extreme events numbered 1,500 between 2021 and 2025. They were mostly concentrated in Asia and Africa, which accounted for nearly half of all recorded incidents, as well as 80% of the 62,500 associated deaths.
World Meteorological Organization
World Meteorological Organization

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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The Spin

Narrative A

The planet's water savings account is being drained, and 2025 proved it by being one of the driest in 35 years. Seven straight years of abnormal river flows, a decade of shrinking land water storage and a fourth consecutive year of glacier loss everywhere amount to a crisis. Therefore, countries must prepare for this new reality and take active steps to mitigate water loss and conserve their resources.

UN News

World Meteorological Organization

Narrative B

Global freshwater isn't running out. In fact, the total supply has actually grown, so panic about a planetary water ceiling misses the point. The real issue is distribution: some catchments are drowning in the resource while others are drained by extraction that outpaces what rivers deliver. Fixing that requires better water management, rather than treating every dry year as proof of doom.