What did 2024 catastrophes actually cost insurers?
Global insured natural-catastrophe losses for 2024, $ billions, by estimating body.
About this data
Four published figures for one year, spanning $137bn to $154bn — a 12% range. Two of them are Swiss Re’s own: $137bn as originally published, $141bn as later restated. Munich Re independently lands at $140bn, clustering three estimates near $140bn, while Gallagher Re’s wider event scope puts it at $154bn. The $137bn figure is by far the most widely quoted, and is no longer the current one.
What did 2024 catastrophes actually cost insurers?
Global insured natural-catastrophe losses for 2024, $ billions, by estimating body.
Data table
| usd_b | series | provider | source_ref | value_basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 137 | provider_spread | Swiss Re (as first published) | swissre-sigma-1-2025 | Swiss Re sigma originally published 2024 global insured nat-cat losses at USD 137bn — the most widely quoted figure |
| 140 | provider_spread | Munich Re | munichre-140 | Munich Re estimates 2024 insured nat-cat losses at USD 140bn (economic losses USD 320bn) |
| 141 | provider_spread | Swiss Re (restated) | swissre-2025-pr | Swiss Re uses USD 141bn as the 2024 base when reporting 2025 at USD 107bn, a stated 24% decline (107 ÷ 141 − 1 = −24.1%) |
| 154 | provider_spread | Gallagher Re | gallagherre-154 | Gallagher Re: insurers covered USD 154bn of USD 417bn total 2024 economic losses — wider event scope |
Methodology & sources
Last updated: Aug 14, 2026Methodology
Insured losses only — the portion of catastrophe damage covered by insurance, always far below total economic loss (Gallagher Re put 2024 economic losses at $417bn against $154bn insured; Munich Re at $320bn against $140bn). The difference is the protection gap. THE 2024 NUMBER IS CONTESTED, and two of the four figures are Swiss Re’s own. $137bn is what Swiss Re originally published and remains by far the most widely quoted. $141bn is the restated basis Swiss Re itself uses when reporting 2025 at $107bn as "a 24% decline" (107 ÷ 141 − 1 = −24.1%, which only works from 141). Munich Re independently lands at $140bn. Gallagher Re’s $154bn reflects a wider event scope, not a different view of the same events. The annual trend chart uses Swiss Re’s CURRENT basis ($141bn for 2024) so it is internally consistent with the 2025 figure beside it. The provider-spread chart exists so that choice is visible rather than silent. OMITTED: the commonly cited $118bn for 2023 is a TREND value, not an actual, and is not plotted alongside actuals. CAVEAT: the 2025 forecast-vs-actual chart compares a trend projection ($145bn) with an outcome ($107bn). The 35% overshoot is not a modelling failure — sigma projects a trend line, not any particular year’s weather, and one quiet hurricane season moves the outcome far more than the trend does. Re-verified 2026-08-10.
Sources
Comparisons are informative, not definitive. See each source for definitions and limits.