While global natural catastrophe losses totaled $244 billion in 2025, below the 10-year average, insured losses once again exceeded $100 billion, reaching $108 billion, according to Munich Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers.
2025 is one of the years when insured losses surpass the $100 billion mark, although this is down from $147 billion in 2024, when losses totaled $368 billion.
According to reinsurers, 92% of all losses in 2025 will be caused by weather disasters, accounting for 97% of insured losses.
Munich Re noted that approximately 17,200 people worldwide lost their lives due to natural disasters, significantly higher than the previous year (about 11,000), but lower than the 10-year average of 17,800 and the 30-year average of 41,900.
Munich Re explained that floods, severe convective storms and wildfires are causing increasingly long-term impacts and will lead to total losses of $166 billion in 2025, of which approximately $98 billion is insured. The damage from these hazards exceeds the inflation-adjusted average over the past 10 and 30 years.
Some of the most catastrophic events in 2025 include the Los Angeles wildfires in January, which totaled approximately $53 billion in losses, including approximately $40 billion in insured losses, making it the costliest wildfire disaster to date, killing 30 people.
In terms of overall losses, the second most costly natural disaster in 2025 was the M7.7 earthquake in Myanmar, which killed about 4,500 people. Only a small portion of the total losses of approximately $12 billion was insured.
Days of severe thunderstorms that affected central and southern U.S. states in March caused the second-costliest natural catastrophe in 2025 in terms of insured losses, according to Munich Re. Losses were approximately US$9.4 billion, of which US$7 billion was insured.
Hurricane Melissa caused devastating damage in Jamaica and severely impacted Cuba, with total damage estimated at US$9.8 billion, of which approximately US$3 billion was insured.
At the same time, tropical cyclones caused approximately US$37 billion in damage globally, of which approximately US$6 billion was insured in 2025.
Following past trends, North America (including Central America and the Caribbean) dominates the loss statistics, amounting to US$133 billion, of which approximately US$93 billion was insured. According to Munich Re, natural disaster losses in Europe in 2025 will be approximately US$11 billion, about half of which is insured.
In the Asia-Pacific region, overall losses from natural disasters were approximately US$73 billion, above the 10-year average of US$66 billion. Of that amount, only $9 billion was insured. Munich Re stressed that in many low-income countries, insurance penetration remains below 5%.
Natural disasters in Africa cause approximately US$3 billion in losses, less than a fifth of which is insured. In terms of overall losses from natural disasters, 2025 is Australia’s second costliest year since 1980.
Thomas Blunck, Member of the Board of Management of Munich Re, commented: “The year started off badly, with very high losses due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. It is entirely fortunate that the United States did not suffer a hurricane landfall in 2025. However, the United States still ranks first in terms of loss statistics due to increasing losses from off-peak disasters.
“We need to be realistic: adapting to these risks is crucial. In line with our new multi-year strategy Ambition 2030, Munich Re is ready to use its expertise and financial strength to respond to additional natural catastrophe risks and strengthen the insurance safety net in the global economy.”
Tobias Green, chief climatologist at Munich Re, added: “Global warming makes extreme weather catastrophes more likely. Given that 2025 is another very warm year and the past 12 years have been the warmest on record, the warning signs remain. In fact, under current conditions, climate change is likely to worsen further.”
