Aon: Global Insured Catastrophe Losses Reach $91B, Lowest Since 2019

Global insured losses from natural disasters dipped to $91 billion through the third quarter of 2026, marking the lowest nine-month total since 2019, according to a new report.

Aon’s Global Catastrophe Recap: Third Quarter of 2026 shows insured losses at 3% above the 21st-century average of $88 billion, but they were well below the $135 billion average for the previous five years. Global economic losses reached $204 billion, 31% below the long-term average, according to Aon.

The year has seen 42 events with economic losses exceeding $1 billion during compared with the 21st-century average of 37. Twenty-three events generated insured losses of more than $1 billion, above the average of 14.

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Third-quarter insured losses alone totaled $29 billion, 31% below the long-term average. No single cat event generated insured losses exceeding $10 billion through September, the report shows.

Severe convective storms continued to drive insured losses, accounting for roughly $55 billion globally. The U.S. accounted for $56 billion in total insured catastrophe losses, with SCSs generating more than $43 billion.

SCSs were also called out in a report from Gallagher Re released last week, which shows global insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled $92 billion during the first nine months of 2026, dropping 29% below the 10-year average of $128 billion, according to a new report.

European SCS losses also reached at least $8.6 billion, driven partly by hailstorms in July and August. A late-August outbreak became Switzerland’s costliest SCS event on record, the report shows.

Europe experienced significant losses from prolonged drought, including property damage from subsidence and agricultural losses. Insured losses from drought across several European countries was more than $8.5 billion. France recorded roughly $5 billion in insured drought losses.

Related: Report: Claims Severity Reaches All-Time High, Frequency Declines

Canada recorded more than $3.3 billion in insured catastrophe losses through September, marking the fourth-highest nine-month total since 2000. A June hailstorm in Saskatchewan and Manitoba generated 35,000 insurance claims in Manitoba. British Columbia wildfires in August generated roughly $500 million in insured losses, the report shows.

Earthquakes in South America were other events that contributed heavily to losses. An earthquake in August in Colombia generated $9.6 billion in economic losses, including $1.9 billion in insured losses.

A report from Verisk in September states that the insurance industry should be prepared to withstand $171 billion in insured catastrophe losses, on average in a given year, up $19 billion from a year ago.

In its highest estimate reported to date, the data analytics and technology provider said the industry’s loss benchmark increased despite the fact that the U.S. in 2025 had no hurricane landfalls for the first time in a decade.

The Verisk report also called out SCS events as a significant driver of losses. For the sixth straight year, global insured catastrophe losses exceeded $100 billion — a result driven not by severity perils like earthquakes and hurricanes, but by record-setting wildfires and significant severe thunderstorm activity, which produced widespread hail, wind and tornado damage across many communities rather than a single catastrophic event, that report shows.