Natural disasters caused significant losses worldwide in 2025. All in all, damage amounting to some USD 224 billion was incurred, of which insurers covered around USD 108 billion, Munich Re’s analysts found out. This means that 2025 joins a growing list of years with insured losses exceeding the USD 100 billion mark, despite losses being lower year on year.

For comparison, in 2024, inflation-adjusted overall losses totaled USD 368 billion, of which USD 147 billion had been insured. Weather disasters accounted for 92% of all 2025 losses and for 97% of insured losses.

Around 17,200 people lost their lives in natural disasters worldwide – significantly more than in the previous year (approximately 11,000), but below the 10-year average of 17,800 and 30-year average of 41,900.

The big picture was alarming regarding floods, severe convective storms and wildfires in 2025. An increasing long-term impact is attributed to such non-peak perils, which led to total losses of USD 166 billion last year – of which around USD 98 billion was insured. The destruction caused by these perils was greater than the inflation-adjusted averages for the past 10 and 30 years (overall losses: USD 136 billion/USD 90 billion; insured losses: USD 60 billion/USD 33 billion). Scientists largely agree that such natural disasters are becoming more severe and more frequent in many parts of the world.

“The year got off to a rough start, with very high losses caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Sheer luck spared the United States from hurricane landfalls in 2025. But the country is still number one in loss statistics, owing to the increasing trend towards very considerable damage caused by non-peak perils. We need to be realistic: Adapting to these risks is essential. In line with our new multi-year strategy Ambition 2030, Munich Re is ready to deploy its expertise and financial strength to take on even more natural disaster risks and strengthen the insurance safety net for the global economy,” said Thomas Blunck, Member of the Board of Management. 

In view of these extreme losses, the world was clearly spared potentially far worse losses by chance alone in 2025. This applies particularly to no hurricane striking the US mainland, though severe storms did occur there. All in all, worldwide losses from natural disasters in 2025 came in below the inflation-adjusted averages for the past 10 years (USD 266 billion). Insured losses mirrored the 10-year inflation-adjusted average of USD 107 billion. Overall losses and insured losses alike in 2025 substantially exceeded the 30-year inflation-adjusted averages.

At around 50% of total losses, uninsured losses were lower than the 10-year average of around 60% due to the high percentage of insured losses attributable to the Los Angeles wildfires. Disregarding this loss event, the insurance gap matched the 10-year average. 

Europe

Europe got off rather lightly in 2025, with natural disaster losses coming in at about USD 11 billion – of which around half was insured (10-year average: USD $ 35 billion / USD 12 billion). The most expensive events here comprised a severe cold wave in Türkiye (overall losses of USD 2 billion, USD 0.6 billion insured) and hailstorms in France, Austria and Germany (USD1.2 billion / USD 0.8 billion).

In Spain, heat and drought in August were followed by the worst wildfires and bushfires in many years. According to data from the European Forest Fire Information Systems (EFFIS) almost 400,000 hectares of land burned over the course of the year – nearly five times the annual average between 2006 and 2024, and much higher than the record during this same period.

Climate change and its consequences

With respect to natural disasters in 2025, it is striking how many extreme events were likely influenced by climate change. This was true of the Los Angeles wildfires, multiple particularly strong hurricanes in the North Atlantic and many catastrophic floods. Numerous studies have indicated that climate change increases the frequency or severity of weather disasters – if not both.

Tobias Grimm, Munich Re’s Chief Climatologist: “A warming world makes extreme weather disasters more likely. Given that 2025 was another very warm year, the past 12 years have been the warmest on record. The warning signs persist. Indeed, under the prevailing circumstances climate change can worsen further.”

The full Munich Re analysis is available here.