Worldwide tsunamis generated by atmospheric waves – or planetary meteotsunami waves – are extremely rare events occurring during supervolcano explosions or asteroid impacts. Recently, such waves have been globally recorded after the Hunga volcano eruption (Tonga) but did not pose any serious danger to the coastal communities. However, this study highlights that the mostly ignored destructive potential of planetary meteotsunami waves can be compared to the well-studied tsunami hazards. Through simple numerical experiments we indeed prove that meteotsunami surges above 1.00 m can be generated along more than 7 % of the world coastlines by atmospheric waves either more intense or slower than during the Hunga event. Consequently, the global meteotsunami hazards should now be properly assessed to prepare for the next big volcanic eruption or asteroid impact.