As societies around the world become more interconnected and globalized, hazards are and will be increasingly shared across the globe, and thus, will become more and more frequent. A resilient society is one that, after being exposed to hazards, is able to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt, and bounce back from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner. Our departure point is that making societies more resilient should start with understanding economic exclusion, which in turn contributes to political instability and conflict. Thus, poverty, economic inequality, and political instability are seen as some of the main obstacles to achieving resilient societies. To deepen our understanding of these issues, our research will be developed in two deeply interrelated areas. The first part of the analysis will identify who and where the most vulnerable individuals on the planet are located. To that effect, we will create two new datasets that will map with a high level of spatial resolution economic well-being, poverty and economic inequality on the one hand, and the degree of vulnerability of the population to climate change, on the other. The second major research line analyses social cleavages, their historical origins and persistence over time, as well as the existence of efficient institutions. Firstly, we will examine social cleavages along class and linguistic lines. Secondly, we will focus on the impact of technological progress. Finally, we'll examine the persistence of social cleavages and hence the eventual inability to design institutions that adapt to the new environments.