Drought is a pervasive natural hazard, which can profoundly affect ecosystems and societies globally. To strengthen the global community’s resilience to droughts, a multi-dimensional understanding of global drought awareness is imperative. Here we investigate global drought awareness at local (awareness of local droughts in the affected country), remote (awareness of remote droughts in other countries), and global levels (awareness from non-exposed countries). This study uses relevant search activity volumes of a country to drought as a proxy of national-level drought awareness. We find that the recent decade has experienced no change in drought hazard over the globe, but the global community has been increasingly seeking information about drought online, that is, elevated awareness of the global community on drought. We further find that long-lasting droughts enhance local- and global-level awareness and high gross domestic product are associated with remote-level awareness. This study provides an observational evidence of global disparities in the awareness/interest regarding drought, underscoring a continuing role of European nations in enhancing global drought awareness.

干旱是一种普遍存在的自然灾害，可以深刻影响全球的生态系统和社会。为了增强国际社会的抗旱能力，必须对全球干旱意识进行多维度的了解。在这里，我们调查了本地（对受影响国家当地干旱的认识）、远程（对其他国家偏远干旱的认识）和全球层面（非受灾国家的认识）的全球干旱意识。本研究使用一个国家的干旱相关搜索活动量作为国家层面干旱意识的代表。我们发现，近十年来，全球干旱危害没有任何变化，但国际社会越来越多地在网上寻求有关干旱的信息，即国际社会对干旱的认识不断提高。我们进一步发现，长期干旱增强了地方和全球层面的意识，而高国内生产总值与偏远地区的意识相关。这项研究提供了全球对干旱的认识/兴趣差异的观察证据，强调了欧洲国家在提高全球干旱认识方面的持续作用。