A new report has shown that the world endured its costliest wildfire on record in 2025, its sixth-deadliest heat wave, and four floods or storms that caused at least 1,000 deaths.
The report showed that the planet was besieged by 55 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2025, insurance broker Gallagher Re said in its annual report issued Jan. 21. The total damage wrought by weather disasters in 2024 was $277 billion; 45% of those costs were covered by insurance. The 2025 damages were 25% lower than the 10-year inflation-adjusted average of $367 billion.
A separate report issued Jan. 20 by insurance broker Aon put the total damage wrought by weather disasters in 2024 at $242 billion, with 47 billion-dollar weather disasters. Billion-dollar weather disasters cause about 76% of the total damages wrought by weather disasters, according to Steve Bowen of Gallagher Re.
The primary reason for the below-average total cost in 2025 was the absence of a landfalling U.S. hurricane for the first time since 2015. Gallagher Re’s report emphasized that nevertheless, “The persistent trend of a high volume of billion-dollar-plus global events highlights the urgent need for greater climate financing to mitigate, adapt and prepare against more expensive disasters.”
The report’s authors also called for stronger building codes, noting that “A 2019 study by the US National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) found that adopting building codes can translate to $11 saved for every $1 invested. Building to a modern code (either through new construction or retrofitting) was found to only add 1% to construction costs, relative to 1990 values.”
Severe convective storm events (including wind, flood, hail, and tornado damage from thunderstorms) in 2023, 2024, and 2025 cost global insurers a combined $208 billion in today’s dollars, of which $176 billion (85%) has occurred in the U.S. This peril is now a dominant annual loss driver for the industry.
Story was adapted from Juancole.
