Home›Insurance›Reinsurance›Global insurers face higher insured cat-loss benchmark…

Global insurers face higher insured cat-loss benchmark at $171 billion

Verisk said the United States accounts for 68% of the global total, about $117 billion, and severe thunderstorms are the largest peril at 40%.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Reinsurance

Increasing catastrophes, inflation, and construction costs are continuing to lift the expected burden of insured catastrophe losses, according to Verisk’s 2026 Global Modelled Catastrophe Losses Report, which sets a benchmark for insurers to absorb average annual insured cat losses.

Verisk estimated that the insurance industry should be prepared for $171 billion in insured catastrophe losses on average in a given year, an increase of $19 billion from a year ago, and the highest estimate Verisk has reported to date. Verisk noted that the rise persisted even in 2025, the first year in a decade with no US hurricane landfalls.

The report said global insured catastrophe losses exceeded $100 billion for the sixth consecutive year, with frequency-driven perils playing the dominant role. It attributed losses not to severity perils like earthquakes and hurricanes, but to record-setting wildfires and significant severe thunderstorm activity, which can produce widespread hail, wind, and tornado damage across many communities.

Verisk also tied the benchmark to extreme scenarios, with modelled aggregate insured losses of $477 billion for a 100-year event and $606 billion for a 250-year event. By region and peril, it projected the United States at 68% of the global total, $117 billion, and severe thunderstorms at 40%, followed by tropical cyclone at 27%, earthquake at 10%, winter storm at 9%, flood at 7%, and wildfire at 6%.

More like this

Sources