In the 21st century, the impact of economic catastrophes has never had a greater effect on the state of the global economy. This situation has been primarily influenced by the intensive process of globalization that unfolded during the second half of the 20th century and the current part of the 21st century. The interconnectedness of national economies has reached unprecedented levels, and the collapse of national economies or geographically concentrated areas leaves a significant mark on other national economies that may be geographically distant by thousands of kilometers. Unfortunately, alongside the positive processes that have arisen from the strengthening trend of globalization, some negative trends have emerged that can be devastating for individual national economies and even the entire global economy. Throughout history, economic catastrophes have most often manifested as natural disasters or health pandemics, but in recent history (with the introduction of currencies and national payment systems), there is an increasing number of economic catastrophes resulting from financial difficulties and crises.Their occurrence can change the previously standardized way of life in national economies, create new trade channels, or extinguish existing ones. In such situations, it is crucial to understand the reasons for the occurrence of catastrophes, whether they could have been predicted, whether the reactions of central authorities were appropriate and timely, and how their implementation manifested in the quality of life in the affected areas. Therefore, the contribution of this work is to present the impact of the mentioned disasters on the macroeconomic indicators of selected countries and compare them with the macroeconomic effects of the potentially most recent economic catastrophe, the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing the presented data, we come to the realization that the COVID-19 pandemic is not actually an economic disaster in the case of Croatia and post-transition countries, and that the decline in economic activity of the observed countries was very short (one year). In the end, we come to the conclusion that the biggest economic disasters were caused by human action (world wars), which leave greater negative consequences on the progress of the global economy and living standards than in the cases with economic disasters caused by natural disasters (earthquakes, pandemics, floods).