Global insured losses from natural catastrophes hit US$80 billion in the first half of 2025, which is almost double
the 10-year average between 2015 and 2024 and marks the fifth year in succession when H1 losses have exceeded $US50 billion, according to Swiss Re Institute’s preliminary estimates.
Insured losses from natural catastrophes have been growing at a long-term trend rate of 5‒7% annually in real te
rms, said Swiss Re, noting that if this trend holds, claims from natural disasters this year will likely approach $150 billion.
However, Swiss Re Institute said total insured losses for the year could exceed its $150 billion projection becaus
e natural catastrophe activity is typically higher in the second half of the year when 60% of annual natural catastrophe insured losses historically occur due to the hurricane season.
Swiss Re’s estimates for the first half of 2025 and the full year were published in its report titled “Unseasonal fires trigger above-trend catastrophe losses in first half 2025.”
Unprecedented claims from wildfires in California and large thunderstorms in the U.S. led to the second costliest fi
rst half ever for global insured losses, following the record-breaking first half of 2011 when a tsunami in March of that
year caused a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant on the northeast coast of Japan and a major earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand in February.
Swiss Re’s estimated insured loss numbers for H1 2025 were level with those released by Munich Re on July 29 and $20 billion lower than those reported by Aon in mid-July.
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All three nat-cat reports said H1 global insured losses were driven by California wildfires and severe convective storms (SCS) in the U.S.
Wildfires
The wildfires that swept through parts of Los Angeles County in January brought the highest-ever insured wildfi
e loss event – with estimated claims of $40 billion, or half of the global H1 insured loss price tag and among the top 10 costliest natural disasters in Swiss Re’s records.
This “exceptional loss severity was due to a prolonged Santa Ana winds season coupled with a lack of rainfall…,” Swiss Re said, explaining that the fires spread ra
pidly and destroyed more than 16,000 structures in an area with some of the densest concentration of high-value single-family residential property in the U.S.