Munich Re: $112B in disaster losses, and 60 cents of every dollar was uninsured
Munich Re counted $112B in first-half disaster losses with only $44B of it insured, a 60% protection gap.
Munich Re's first-half 2026 tally: $112B in total disaster losses, only $44B insured, a 60% protection gap. North America alone took $47B ($34B insured). An April severe-thunderstorm outbreak spun up roughly 100 tornadoes across the Midwest and Texas for $5.8B in losses. Totals landed just below the ten-year average, but the convective-storm and heat signal keeps climbing.
Why it matters
The protection gap is your uninsured-and-underinsured reality, the homeowner who's short-paid and the commercial owner who self-funds. And severe convective storms (hail, wind, tornado) remain the bread-and-butter volume driver, not just headline hurricanes.
The read
Losses below the ten-year average sounds like a breather. The number that matters is the split: sixty cents of every disaster dollar was uninsured. The work exists, funding it is the hard part, and convective storms keep producing it every spring. Build the uninsured side of your business deliberately: a cash price list, a financing option at the table, and a deposit rule your office enforces.
How we got here
Storyline: CAT & wildfire 10 stories so far
- 3 earlier stories on this storyline
- A Gulf storm is spinning up, water-loss demand about to spike
- Texas Hill Country floods again, major disaster declaration (DR-4879)
- Fire season moves inland: Colorado, Oregon, Washington declarations in one week, plus a second Texas flood
- A quieter hurricane forecast, but the risk is where the storm lands, not how many form
- Convective and wet: EF3 tornado in Wisconsin, deadly flash floods in West Virginia
- The LA smoke fight just got its science: lead riding the plume into standing homes
- Munich Re: $112B in disaster losses, and 60 cents of every dollar was uninsured You are here
Read next
Sources Risk & Insurance, riskandinsurance.com/global-disaster-losses-… (published , reporting Munich Re H1 2026 data)
Advisory/Broker (trade outlet reporting reinsurer data) High confidence