(Bloomberg) --Global insurance losses from natural disasters have eclipsed $100 billion in 2025, even as subdued hurricane activity has resulted in unusually low third-quarter costs so far.
Preliminary insured losses for the first nine months of 2025 already stand at about $105 billion, according to a report Wednesday by Gallagher Re. It will be the sixth consecutive calendar year with losses of more than $100 billion, and the eighth since 2017.
Rising global temperatures are contributing to an increase in the frequency and intensity of weather-related events, such as hurricanes and wildfires, leading to higher losses for the insurance industry. Scientists expect 2025 to be the second- or third-warmest year on record.
Still, insured losses for the first three quarters of this year were 8% lower than the average from 2015 through 2024.
While the Los Angeles wildfires in January and severe convective storms in the US pushed insured losses higher early in the year, the unusually muted hurricane activity resulted in lower-than-average losses for the insurance industry during the third quarter: less than $15 billion, the lowest since 2016.
"If the last three months of 2025 stay manageable and on par with recent historical loss performance in Q4, this will likely be a further boost to the (re)insurance industry's financial buffers," Steve Bowen, Gallagher's chief science officer, said in a statement.
