Gallagher Re's latest Natural Catastrophe and Climate Report reveals that the total Q1 insured losses worldwide was $20bn.
The total insured loss amount was 26% below the decadal average and 47% below the most recent 5-year average. A relatively low and manageable number of high-cost Nat CAT events in Q1 2026 means that (re)insurers’ annual catastrophe budgets remain ample, with the industry now in an even stronger position to withstand any future individual major events, or the higher loss aggregation of more frequent medium-sized events.
Gallagher Re estimates that it would require a single event (or a series of large events) resulting in an insured loss of $115bn to $125bn above expected average annual catastrophe losses to meaningfully impact the trajectory of pricing in the property (re)insurance industry.
The minimum $58bn in economic losses from all-natural perils was 12% below the 10-year Q1 average ($67bn). The portion covered by the private insurance market or public insurance entities was at least $20bn, or 26% lower than the decadal average ($26bn).
In Europe, the windstorm peril through Q1 was already the continent’s costliest on an economic basis since 1999, though it failed to produce a major insured (over $10bn) industry loss event. The nearly 20-year lack of major windstorm events in Europe has raised the question of whether it should still be considered a so-called "peak" peril, considering that every other Nat CAT peril has had at least one over $10bn nominal insured loss events during that timeframe.
Elsewhere, the report considers severe convective storms (tornadoes, hail, and straight-line winds) in the US, and the complex web of hazard and non-hazard drivers contributing to the steadily more expensive trajectory of insured losses attributed to the peril since 2008.
Gallagher Re Chief Science Officer Steve Bowen said: “The insurance industry must continue to broaden its lens to account for more macroeconomic, socioeconomic, geopolitical, and scientific factors when assessing SCS loss potential. This is true not only in the US, but also internationally, as SCS losses grow in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.”