Study: Damaging Wildfires Four Times More Frequent
A peer‑reviewed study published Oct. 2, 2025 in Science finds the world’s most economically and societally damaging wildfires now occur about 4.4 times more often than in the 1980s. Researchers (an Australian, American and German team led by Calum Cunningham of the University of Tasmania) analyzed the 200 worst fires since 1980—ranked by percent GDP damage, inflation‑adjusted—using Munich Re insurance data and the International Disaster Database, and link the escalation to human‑caused climate change, worsening 'fire weather', and expanding development near wildlands, with notable concentrations in the Mediterranean and the Western United States.
Science
Environment
🔍 Key Facts
- Frequency increase: the 200 most damaging fires occurred about 4.4 times more often from 1980–2023 than in the 1980s
- Sample & method: study ranked the 200 worst fires by percentage GDP damage (inflation‑adjusted) using Munich Re and International Disaster Database records
- Recent trend: 43% of those 200 fires occurred in the last decade (2014–2023); the world averaged nearly nine such events per year over 2014–2023 (13 in 2021)
- Fatalities: researchers found a tripling in how often a single fire killed at least 10 people, citing Paradise (2018), Lahaina (2023), and Los Angeles fires (2025) as examples
- Drivers: increase tied to growing 'fire weather' (hot, dry, windy conditions) and to people moving closer to wildlands; study attributes trend to human‑caused climate change