The Global Drought Mortality Risks and Distribution is a 2.5 minute grid of global drought mortality risks. Gridded Population of the World, Version 3 (GPWv3) data provide a baseline estimation of population per grid cell from which to estimate potential mortality risks due to drought hazard. Mortality loss estimates per hazard event are calculated using regional, hazard-specific mortality records of the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) that span the 20 years between 1981 and 2000. Data regarding the frequency and distribution of drought hazard are obtained from the Global Drought Hazard Frequency and Distribution data set. In order to more accurately reflect the confidence associated with the data and procedures, the potential mortality estimate range is classified into deciles, 10 classes of increasing risk with an approximately equal number of grid cells per class, producing a relative estimate of drought-based mortality risks. This data set is the result of collaboration among the Columbia University Center for Hazards and Risk Research (CHRR), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, and Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).