The Global Exposure Model is a mosaic of local and regional models with information regarding the residential, commercial, and industrial building stock at the smallest available administrative division of each country and includes details about the number of buildings, number of occupants, vulnerability characteristics, average built-up area, and average replacement cost.

The dataset is developed and maintained by the GEM Foundation, using a bottom-up approach at the global scale, using national statistics, socio-economic data, and local datasets. The datasets employed to develop this model were provided by national institutions, or developed within the scope of regional programs or bilateral collaborations. The global maps and the underlying databases are based on the best available and publicly accessible datasets and models.

This model allows the identification of the most common types of construction worldwide, regions with large fractions of informal construction, and areas prone to natural disasters with a high concentration of population and building stock. The underlying datasets used to create the maps are available for all regions of the world, aggregated at Administrative Level 1 under a CC BY-NC-SA license, or further disaggregated under specific licenses.

The open and downloadable Global Exposure Map (v2023.1) in PNG format, presents the geographic distribution of residential, commercial and industrial buildings. The number of buildings and total replacement cost is presented on a hexagonal grid, with a spacing of 0.30 x 0.36 decimal degrees (approximately 1,000 km2 at the equator).

The Global Exposure Map (shapefiles) consists of four layers that depict for each hexagon the number of buildings, the built-up area, the total replacement value and the total population.