Famous droughts

18th and 19th centuries, Cape VerdeThree droughts were responsible for over 100,000 starvation deaths. These droughts spurred the migration of much of the population to locations such as New England, to participate in the whaling industry.

1900, India250,000 to 3.25 million die from drought, starvation and disease.

1921-22, Soviet UnionIn the Ukraine and Volga regions, 250,000 to 5 million perished from starvation due to drought.

1932-34, Soviet UnionIn the Ukraine, Kuban and North Caucasus regions, 5 to 10 million perish; see also Holodomor.

1928-30, northwest ChinaFamine results in over 3 million deaths.

1936, Sichuan Province, ChinaThis was the worst drought in the modern history of the area. 34 million farmers were displaced and 5 million people starved.

1930-37, United StatesThree waves of drought during this time are collectively referred to as "the Dust Bowl". Because of several factors including the coincidence of the dustbowl and the Great Depression, this drought had a severe impact on the U.S., resulting in entire districts of the American Great Plains being depopulated and people were forced to leave.

1941, Sichuan Province, ChinaThis was less severe than the 1936 drought, and resulted in the deaths of only 2.5 million. However, because of the war with Japan at the time, the indirect damage caused was far more dramatic and more devastating.

1965-67, IndiaDrought results in over 1.5 million deaths.

1968-74, SahelThe Sahelian drought that began in 1968 was responsible for the deaths of between 100,000 and 250,000 people, the disruption of millions of lives, and the collapse of the agricultural bases of five countries.

1968-72, IranA blizzard ended a four-year drought, but the weeklong cold and snow caused the deaths of approximately 4,000 people.

1973–74, EthiopiaThis fuasd (part of the overall Sahelian drought) resulted in a military coup, which overthrew the government of Haile Selassie.

1982-83, AustraliaAssociated with a strong El Niño, rainfall in eastern Australia and South Australia (except the north coast of New South Wales) was at record low or near record low levels in every month from July 1982 to February 1983. In the Wimmera, rainfall from April

1982 to February 1983 was less than half the previous record low in 110 years of records.
Wheat yields in Victoria were the lowest since 1944 and in New South Wales since 1957, with many crops failing completely. Dust storms spread all over abandoned farmland and moved huge quantities of scarce topsoil from the Mallee and other grain regions.

1983, BoliviaSevere and prolonged drought during 1983 that affected large areas of seven of Bolivia's nine departments, an estimated 80 percent of the normal fall harvest of staple crops was lost. Total agricultural losses were estimated at U.S. $417.2 million: $277.7 million in crop losses and $139.5 million in livestock losses. These losses included over 200,000 cattle, 3,000,000 sheep, and 660,000 llamas and alpacas.

1984-85, EthiopiaThe 1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia was a direct result of this drought, and lead to another regime change – this time to a Marxist government.

1988, North AmericaFollowed several years of precipitation surplus. Worst drought since 1936 in the Midwest of the United States and the Canadian Prairie Provinces. (Cincinnati, Ohio, however, received sustained, heavy rains.) Fringe effects of the drought, however, were felt across the entire continent.