Last year's insured losses reached $145bn globally – Aon Cat Report

Greater insurability of climate risk is key to global economic resilience, Aon’s catastrophe report has warned.

Aon’s 2025 Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, which identifies global natural disaster and climate trends to quantify the risk and human impact of extreme weather events in 2024.

The report reveals global natural disaster events caused $368bn in economic losses in 2024, up from 2023’s $397bn sum.

The broker said 2024’s economic toll was driven by hurricanes and severe convective storms (SCS) in the US, 14% above the 21st-century average and the ninth consecutive year of losses exceeding $300bn.

“The devastating events of 2024 underscore the significant economic toll of climate risk,” said Greg Case, CEO of Aon.

“Evidenced by the data in our report – and the tragic destruction in California at the beginning of 2025 – extreme weather remains a powerful force driving the complexity and volatility that businesses and communities face and emphasizes the urgent need for innovative solutions to address this growing challenge,” Case added.

The report points to several trends with natural catastrophe losses:

Extreme weather’s rising frequency and severity

Global insurance losses in 2024 were 54% above the 21st-century average, covering $145bn of the $368bn in damages (2023: $126bn), Aon revealed.

Even as insured losses far exceeded the average, the protection gap stood at 60% (2023: 68%), representing a significant financial headwind to communities, businesses and governments.

Increases in population, wealth and overall exposure to natural hazards in high-risk areas continue to be a crucial component of growing disaster losses, emphasised the broker’s report.

Helene & Milton

Hurricane Helene was the costliest global event in 2024 in economic loss terms. The hurricane made landfall in the US in September and caused $75bn of damages and 243 fatalities.

Hurricane Milton in October (pictured) was the costliest single global insured loss event, causing $20bn in losses.

These two huge storms were major contributors to the fact that 78% of global insured losses were recorded in the US, according to Aon.

SCS increasing

Steady growth of SCS losses, reflecting increasing population, exposure and wealth, were underlined by Aon.

There were at least 54 global events that each resulted in economic losses above $1bn in 2024, above the average of 44.

The increase in the number of billion-dollar events was largely driven by American SCS.

Growing exposure to this peril increases the likelihood of billion-dollar disaster occurring, particularly as the US continues to experience spatial growth of cities in areas regularly affected by SCS activity, such as Dallas, Houston or Denver, Aon highlighted.

Warmest year on record

Twenty countries and territories recorded their highest temperatures during a year which saw the end of 15 consecutive months of record global high temperatures in August.

“When it comes to climate risk, the stakes could not be higher,” Case said.

“The $223bn in uninsured losses in 2024 challenges the ability to rebuild, recover and create more resilience across the globe.

“Part of the solution requires investments in technology and analytics to model and price the risks and attract deeper capital pools that can see a potential return on investment to take on these risks. Capital will not go where it is not protected – and the events from 2024 should stimulate innovation across our industry to strengthen the global economy,” he added.

Aon’s report also shows that with greater resilience and mitigation measures in place, global economies can reduce damage and loss of life. In 2024, 18,100 people lost their lives due to natural hazards, mostly from heatwaves and flooding globally.

This was below the 21st-century average of 72,400 and could be attributed to improved warning systems, weather forecasts and evacuation planning, underscoring the value of reliable climate data, insights and analytics.

Andy Marcell, CEO of risk capital for Aon, said: “The insurance industry – and broader financial community – has the opportunity to bring new sources of capital to protect vulnerable communities and strengthen the global economy.

“The collaboration between various stakeholders will be crucial in developing public-private partnerships and innovative insurance products that offer a sustainable way of closing the protection gap,” Marcell said.

The report revealed that Spain, Brazil, the UAE and Vietnam all recorded their costliest insurance events in 2024.

Michal Lörinc, head of catastrophe insight at Aon, said: “Our understanding of natural hazards continues to evolve, but one trend is clear – we continue to see a greater number of large-scale disasters in terms of financial loss.

“Businesses and communities need to prepare their people, operations and properties using insights from the latest forecasting models, analytics and reliable climate data,” he added.

The top ten events, according to Aon, are ranked below, and Aon’s 2025 Climate and Catastrophe Insight report can be found here.

Top 10 global economic loss events in 2024

Dates	Event	Location	Deaths	Economic loss (2024 $bn)	Insured loss (2024 $bn)
09/25 - 09/28	Hurricane Helene	United States, Mexico, Cuba	243	75.0	17.5
10/08 - 10/11	Hurricane Milton	United States, Mexico	35	35.0	20.0
01/01	Noto Earthquake	Japan	489	18.0	1.0
10/27 - 10/30	Valencia Floods	Spain	231	16.1	3.9
06/09 - 07/14	South, Central China Floods	China	470	15.7	0.4
09/01 - 09/09	Typhoon Yagi	China, Southeast Asia	816	12.9	0.7
07/01 - 07/11	Hurricane Beryl	United States, Caribbean, Canada	70	7.7	3.7
09/12 - 09/16	Central Europe Floods	Central Europe	29	7.5	2.1
01/01 - 12/31	Drought	United States	N/A	7.1	3.5
05/06 - 05/10	Severe Convective Storm	United States	6	6.6	5.2
All other events			~15,700	166.4	87.0
TOTALS			~18,100	368	145

 Table source: Aon