Total insured losses for the year reached an estimated $129 bn, roughly 5% below the average recorded between 2015 and 2024.
Gallagher Re released its full-year 2025 Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report, concluding that global catastrophe losses remained manageable for the re/insurance sector.
Losses clustered heavily in the United States, which accounted for $100 bn, or 78% of global insured losses. The most expensive loss sequence arrived early. January wildfires in Los Angeles generated an estimated $41 bn in insured losses, making them the single largest event for insurers during the year.
Severe convective storms emerged again as the dominant driver of industry losses. These events accounted for at least 47% of global insured losses, equivalent to $60 bn.
Of that total, $51 bn was recorded in the US alone, reinforcing the country’s outsized role in annual catastrophe loss totals.
Catastrophe activity affected a wide range of regions, yet aggregate financial impacts stayed within tolerable bounds for most insurers.
La Niña conditions prevailed for much of the year, contributing to weather volatility across developed and emerging markets. Exposure levels continued to rise, even where loss outcomes stayed muted.
Direct economic losses from natural hazards reached an estimated $296 bn. Insurers absorbed $129 bn of that total, leaving a protection gap of 56%, or $167 bn.
At least 58 events generated economic losses above $1 bn, with 23 of those also exceeding the same threshold for insured losses.
- When isolating weather- and climate-related events and excluding earthquakes and other non-atmospheric hazards, economic losses stood at $277 bn.
- Insured losses covered about $125 bn. The January Los Angeles wildfires again dominated insurer payouts within this subset.
Severe convective storms alone accounted for $60 bn of insured losses in 2025. Combined losses from this peril across 2023, 2024, and 2025 now total $208 bn globally, with $176 bn, or 85%, occurring in the US.
According to Beinsure analysts, this pattern has shifted convective storms into a primary annual loss driver rather than a secondary volatility factor.
The report points to climate change as an ongoing influence on weather behaviour while cautioning against assumptions of linear trends.
Hazard frequency and severity continue to fluctuate sharply by region and year. Greater variability, rather than uniform escalation, is the prevailing pattern, increasing the likelihood of clustered losses and broader societal strain.
Although more extreme event behaviour appears more frequently, Gallagher Re warned against interpreting recent years as a permanent baseline.
