Tuvalu is preparing to relocate its entire population — around 11,000 people — due to rising sea levels and increasingly frequent ocean storms. Since 2023, an agreement between the country and Australia has been in effect, under which Australia accepts migrants through a special visa program.

Tuvalu's average elevation above sea level is only 2 meters. Climate change is causing not only the melting of glaciers but also more frequent flooding that increasingly inundates the island. According to Wired, by July 2025, the Australian council had received around 9,000 relocation applications — nearly half of the adult population of the island nation. The report also notes that within ten years, about half of the country’s population is expected to leave.

As the relocation process continues, Tuvalu’s government has begun 3D scanning of the islands. This is being done to preserve digital replicas of disappearing landscapes and cultural sites — essentially, an effort to leave a historical trace of a vanishing nation.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), by 2050, tens of millions of residents in coastal cities will face permanent flooding. The UN estimates that rising sea levels already pose a threat to around one billion people worldwide.