Natural disasters across the globe cost insurers US$80 billion during the first half of 2025, up from $64 billion in H1 2024, according to Munich Re’s mid-year natural disaster report.
On the other hand, overall economic losses (which include insured claims) dropped slightly to $131 billion during H1 2025, compared with $155 billion last year (adjusted for inflation). Nevertheless, economic losses were well above the long-term average, Munich Re said.
The U.S., once again, drove natural disaster losses — particularly due to record-breaking wildfires around Los Angeles in January, said the report titled “Wildfires around Los Angeles, severe thunderstorms: US natural catastrophes dominate global losses in the first half of 2025.”
Read more: First-Half 2025 Insured Losses From Natural Cats Hit $100B, Driven by US Events
Both overall losses and insured losses were significantly higher than the average for both the previous 10 years and the previous 30 years. (Adjusted for inflation, average overall losses for the previous 10 years were $101 billion, while average losses for the previous 30 years were $79 billion. Average insured losses were $41 billion and $26 billion for the previous 10 years and 30 years, respectively.)
Munich Re said insured losses in H1 2025 were the second highest in the first half of any year since it began keeping records in 1980 — only surpassed by the first half of 2011 when insured losses were even higher, driven by a severe earthquake and destructive tsunami in Japan. (Editor’s note: In March 2011, a tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant — causing damage that resulted in the release of radioactive contaminants. Clean up and decommissioning of the plant will take decades.)
“Weather disasters caused 88% of overall losses and 98% of insured losses, while earthquakes accounted for 12% and 2%, respectively,” the Munich Re report said.
Los Angeles Wildfires
The wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area resulted in the costliest natural disaster during the first six months of 2025 with an overall loss of an estimated $53 billion, around $40 billion of which was insured, Munich Re said. The fires claimed the lives of 29 people.
“Never before had wildfires caused such extensive damage. The overall losses and insured losses due to this single event were nearly twice as high as global wildfire losses in 2018, which had previously been the most expensive wildfire year,” the report said.
Notably, the wildfires occur in winter, which is typically rainy, Munich Re added.