Certain population groups are particularly at risk owing to their socioeconomic characteristics which leave them disproportionately exposed and more vulnerable to climate hazards. In most countries, the disproportionately high risks experienced by particular population groups are determined by structural inequalities which reproduce poverty, marginalization and social exclusion. Deepening the analysis of this problem with a view to identifying policies that can act upon the structural drivers of vulnerability requires a consistent analytical framework. In this framework, the intersection between the occurrence of climate hazards and the exposure and vulnerability of people and natural systems to them is the central source of risk (figure 1.4). Exposure refers to the presence of people (including their livelihoods), ecosystems and species, or economic, social, or cultural assets in places that could be adversely affected by climate hazards. Exposure and vulnerability are thus determined implicitly by the conditions of poverty, marginalization and social exclusion as they affect specific population groups.