Wildfire Insured Losses Hit $54 Billion in 2025, Highest on Record

Worldwide insured losses from wildfires reached at least $54 billion in 2025, the highest level on record, according to a new analysis published on Sunday. The Los Angeles fires and severe blazes in South Korea and Spain drove the increase. The $54 billion figure is a conservative estimate because insurers do not typically share proprietary data and damage can be difficult to assess in some countries.

The total does not include indirect losses such as missed work days, business closures, and added pressure on health care systems. When estimates of indirect losses are factored in, the fires that hit the Los Angeles area alone would add at least $100 billion to the total, the study said.

Those fires tore through at least 90 square miles early last year, killing at least 31 people and forcing more than 150,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

Some experts estimate that hundreds more died from indirect causes such as smoke inhalation. The total area burned in 2025 wildfires was relatively small. Researchers gathered data on wildfire area and damage from 2025 events in the EM-DAT database.

EM-DAT is the product of a global, communal research effort to track disasters and their costs to society and to the natural world. The database provides researchers and policymakers with minimum estimates for damage from fires, floods and other disasters. The picture from EM-DAT is not complete.