Natural disasters cause $224 billion in damage in 2025

The fires in Los Angeles are the most costly natural disaster

Frankfurt (Germany).- Natural disasters such as fires, floods, storms and earthquakes caused losses of 224 billion dollars (about 191.45 billion euros) in 2025, of which 108 billion dollars (92.308 billion euros) were insured, according to figures from the reinsurer Munich Re. The Munich Re reinsurance company reported this Tuesday that the damages from natural disasters decreased significantly in 2025 compared to 2024, when they reached 368 billion dollars (314.53 billion euros), of which 147 billion dollars (125.641 billion euros) were insured.

Climate-related disasters accounted for 92% of all losses in 2025 and 97% of insured losses.

About 17,200 people died in 2025 as a result of natural disasters, many more than the previous year (11,000 deaths in 2024). However, the death toll is below the average of the last ten years of 17,800 deaths and the last thirty years of 41,900 deaths.

The fires in Los Angeles, the most costly natural disaster

The Los Angeles (USA) fires in January of last year are by far the most costly natural disaster of 2025 with losses of 53 billion dollars (45.3 billion euros), of which 40 billion dollars were insured (34.188 billion euros). Munich Re considers this to be the most expensive fire in history so far, in which 30 people died.

The second most expensive natural disaster was the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, in which 4,500 people died and which caused losses worth 12 billion dollars (10.256 billion euros) but only a small part was insured.

The hurricane Melissa, which hit the Caribbean with winds of up to almost 300 km/h, caused 100 deaths and losses worth 9.8 billion dollars (8.376 billion euros), of which 3 billion dollars (2.564 billion euros) were insured.

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Three category 5 hurricanes, which is the maximum, developed in the tropical North Atlantic. "There haven't been so many extreme hurricanes here since 2005, when the New Orleans region was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, which remains one of the most costly natural disasters of all time," considers Munich Re.

The continental territory of the US was not affected by hurricanes for the first time in ten years.

Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China, were impacted by typhoons more frequently than usual.

Tropical cyclones caused global losses in 2025 of 37 billion dollars (31.624 billion euros) of which 6 billion dollars (5.128 billion euros) were insured.

Climate change influences many extreme phenomena

Munich Re considers that the fires in Los Angeles, the hurricanes in the North Atlantic, and many floods were influenced by climate change.

"Numerous studies have indicated that climate change increases the frequency or severity of climate disasters," adds Munich Re.

Munich Re's head of Climatology, Tobias Grimm, believes that "a warming world makes extreme weather disasters more likely."

America leads the losses

Like other years, North America, including Central America and the Caribbean, leads the losses from natural disasters with 133 billion dollars (113.675 billion euros), of which 93 billion dollars (79.487 billion euros) were insured. The fires in Los Angeles, Hurricane Melissa, and some storms, tornadoes, and hailstorms caused the main losses. Europe was less affected by natural disasters in 2025 with losses of $11 billion (€9.4 billion), half of which were insured. The most expensive natural disasters in Europe were the severe cold wave that Turkey suffered with losses worth 2 billion dollars (1.709 billion euros), of which 600 million dollars were insured (513 million euros), and hailstorms in France, Austria and Germany. The heat wave and drought in Spain caused the worst fires in many years, which burned almost 400,000 hectares of land in 2025, almost five times more than the annual average between 2006 and 2024. The Asia-Pacific region had losses from natural disasters of 73 billion dollars (62.393 million euros) but of that amount only 9 billion dollars (7.692 million euros) were insured. In many low-income countries in this region, insurance penetration, a measure of the extent of insurance coverage in a region, is less than 5%.