Although $244 billion in total global losses for natural disasters in 2025 is lower than the 10-year average, insured losses once again exceeded $100 billion at $108 billion, according to Munich Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies.
2025 joins the growing list of years with insured losses exceeding the $100 billion mark, although did come down year-on-year from $147 billion in 2024, a year which had total losses of $368 billion.
According to the reinsurer, weather disasters accounted for 92% of all 2025 losses and for 97% of insured losses.
Munich Re notes that around 17,200 people lost their lives to natural disasters globally, significantly higher than in the previous year (approximately 11,000), but below 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 creating an increasingly long-term impact and led to total losses of $166 billion in 2025, of which around $98 billion was insured. The destruction caused by these perils was greater than the inflation-adjusted averages for the past 10 and 30 years.
Some of the most disastrous events of 2025 include the Los Angeles wildfires in January, with overall losses totalling around $53 billion, including insured losses of roughly $40 billion, making it the most expensive wildfire disaster to date, with 30 people losing their lives.
The second most expensive natural disaster of 2025, per overall losses, was a severe M7.7 earthquake in Myanmar, which caused around 4,500 fatalities. Of the overall losses of roughly $12 billion, only a small share was insured.
In terms of insured losses, severe thunderstorms spanning several days and impacting central and southern US states in March resulted in the second most expensive natural disaster of 2025, according to Munich Re. Losses amounted to around $9.4 billion, of which $7 billion was insured.
Hurricane Melissa caused devastating destruction in Jamaica and severely impacted Cuba, with aggregate losses of around $9.8 billion, of which around $3 billion was insured.
Meanwhile, tropical cyclones caused around $37 billion in worldwide losses, of which about $6 billion was insured in 2025.
Following past trends, North America (including Central America and the Caribbean) dominated the loss statistics at $133 billion, of which approximately $93 billion was insured. For Europe, natural disaster losses in 2025 were about $11 billion, of which around half was insured, reports Munich Re.
In the Asia-Pacific region, natural disasters resulted in overall losses amounting to roughly $73 billion, above the 10-year average of $66 billion. Of these, only $9 billion was insured. In many lower-income countries, insurance penetration remains below 5%, highlights Munich Re.
Natural disasters in Africa resulted in losses of approximately $3 billion, less than a fifth of which was insured. 2025 was the second most expensive year since 1980 for Australia in terms of overall losses caused by natural disasters.
Thomas Blunck, Member of the Board of Management, Munich Re, commented, “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.”
Tobias Grimm, Chief Climatologist, Munich Re, added, “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.”
