Cost of natural disasters in New Zealand - Data and Analysis (1990-2034)

IBISWorld forecasts the cost of natural disasters to climb by 77.0% in 2026, to $492.3 million. This increase is largely attributable to a run of costly severe weather events early in the year, with insured losses from January to April alone almost matching the total for 2025. The cost of natural disasters is highly volatile due to the randomness of catastrophic events. New Zealand is vulnerable to natural hazards due to its geographic characteristics. Sitting on the Ring of Fire subduction zone, New Zealand is situated at the intersection between two tectonic plates. This factor heightens the incidence of seismic, volcanic and hydrothermal activity. In addition, New Zealand's long coastline and lack of surrounding landmasses increase tsunami risk. The location of New Zealand within the Roaring Forties weather system also subjects the country to frequent extreme weather events, including storms and high winds.As of October 2026, the Insurance Council of New Zealand has provided costs for four natural disasters in the current year. These were severe weather events in January and February, ex-Cyclone Vaianu in April and a further severe weather event later in April, which together cost $264.8 million. Insured losses from later events, including the July flooding that prompted states of emergency in the Waitaki and Kaikoura districts, are yet to be published. In 2025, natural disasters cost $278.2 million, led by the South Island severe weather events in October, which cost $158.9 million, alongside Cyclone Tam in April, storms in late April and June and the Mangawhai Tornado in January. In 2024, natural disasters were minimal, with storms in Otago and the East Coast of the North Island accounting for $63.5 million in damages. Four natural disasters occurred in 2023. These were the Auckland floods in January, Cyclone Gabrielle in February and severe storms across the North Island in February and May. The combined cost of these events was $3,875.5 million. In 2022, the total cost of natural disasters was $357.1 million. Major disasters in 2022 included the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano and tsunami in January, Cyclone Dovi in February, the North Island floods in March, the Levin Tornado in May, the North and South Island storm in June, severe storms across the country during July, the Nelson-Tasman floods and the extensive floods around the rest of the regions in August. Overall, IBISWorld forecasts the cost of natural disasters to increase at a compound annual rate of 8.7% over the five years through 2026.