Kathmandu. Global insured property losses due to natural disasters reached $92 billion in the first nine months of 2026. This is 29 percent lower than the 10-year average ($128 billion) and the lowest insured property damage since 2019. <\/p>\n
According to Gallagher Rico’s “Natural Disasters and Climate” report for the third quarter of 2026, the insurance industry has not seen a natural disaster with more than $10 billion in insured losses in six consecutive quarters. This is the longest such period in decades. <\/p>\n
Despite this, the Gallagher RICO report also suggested that below-average disaster losses in recent times should not be taken as evidence of a reduced risk. “El Ni\u00f1o events are expected to rapidly emerge in 2026, along with increased activity from moderate outbreaks,” the report said, “which could lead to one of the most powerful El Ni\u00f1o events ever recorded.” \u2019<\/p>\n
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that there is more than an 81 percent chance that El Ni\u00f1o will remain at the “very strong” level by January 2027. Forecasts indicate that it could peak in the fourth quarter of 2026. It will then begin to weaken in 2027. It will likely lead to La Ni\u00f1a. <\/p>\n
For insurance and reinsurance companies, such changes can significantly alter regional risk patterns. This may require them to reassess their risk concentrations, stockpiles, and capital allocation strategies. <\/p>\n
Historically, changes in the ENSO cycle have also led to significant fluctuations in natural disaster activity, the report said. Therefore, as the insurance industry approaches the 2027 renewal season, it becomes increasingly important to monitor potential changes in weather and climate patterns. <\/p>\n
Rising temperatures and droughts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In addition to the damage caused by natural disasters, the report highlights rising temperatures and prolonged drought as major concerns for 2026. Global temperatures in the first nine months of 2026 were the second-warmest on record in modern records. That has been since at least 1850. <\/p>\n This could result in increased wildfires, damage to agriculture, disruption to transportation systems and a significant increase in insurance claims related to droughts. “At first glance, 2026 has been a largely favorable year for the insurance industry,” said Steve Bowen, chief science officer at Gallagher Ric. This is because the industry ignored a significant concentration of major damage events. \u2019<\/p>\n “However, catastrophic events and resulting insured losses are not the same thing. The world saw many major disasters in 2026. However, many of these occurred in fewer locations or circumstances that would have resulted in large insured losses,” he said, adding that many of the costly events had profound economic, human, and social impacts. Ultimately, the burden of compensating for these losses fell heavily on governments, businesses, and affected communities. \u2019<\/p>\n According to Steve, the impact of many costly events was profound on economic, human, and social levels. “Ultimately, the burden of compensating for these losses fell heavily on governments, businesses and the affected communities,” he said, adding that “Looking ahead, the prospect of a La Ni\u00f1a-like event in 2027 is a reminder of how quickly the disaster landscape can change from one year to the next. These quiet periods provide an opportunity to reassess our risk, loss accumulation, and portfolio resilience.” \u2014Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kathmandu. Global insured property losses due to natural disasters reached $92 billion in the first nine months of 2026. This is 29 percent lower than the 10-year average ($128 billion) and the lowest insured property damage since 2019. According to Gallagher Rico’s “Natural Disasters and Climate” report for the third quarter of 2026, the insurance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":299879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45031,45044,45159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banner-news-en","category-international-news-en","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320700,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320699\/revisions\/320700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media\/299879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.insurancekhabar.com\/ikbrapi\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}