Insurance Implications of Rising Civil Unrest in the Wealthy World

A category of insurance risk that hardly existed a little over a decade ago has morphed into a meaningful source of losses for the industry.

Claims tied to SRCC — strikes, riots, and civil commotion — are emerging as a growing headache for insurers as episodes of unrest increasingly lead to the destruction of property in Western democracies. Howden Re estimates that insured losses related to SRCC soared from negligible levels in 2013 to more than $8 billion between 2020 and 2024.

SRCC losses are prone to huge swings between years, with single events often changing the landscape significantly. After relatively few claims globally in 2025, Howden Re told Bloomberg it’s now expecting the US to see a clear increase in SRCC losses this year.

“We live in a time of heightened risk,” said David Flandro, head of industry analysis and strategic advisory at Howden Re. The flare-ups making news headlines in the US are “clearly indicative of a broader trend,” he added.

Civil unrest is on the rise globally, coinciding with a measurable increase in levels of inequality and polarization in some of the world’s richest countries. In many Western nations, the majority of citizens no longer expect to see any growth in generational wealth, according to the Pew Research Center.

Rising political division is adding to SRCC risks in both Europe and the US, as noted by Verisk Maplecroft. However, the sharpest increase in protest sizes is taking place in the US, according to their December report.

Read more: Predictive Model Delivers Insights as Insurers, Reinsurers Brace for More Civil Unrest

When it comes to ranking countries with the greatest SRCC risk, the US is the No. 1 Western democracy and sits at No. 5 overall, ahead of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, according to first-quarter data from Verisk Maplecroft. France ranks seventh. SRCC models consider not just the risk of unrest but also the cost of replacing damaged property.

“It’s fair to say that the SRCC risk landscape has fundamentally changed,” stated Torbjorn Soltvedt, associate director of political violence at Verisk.

For a long time, insurers offered protection against SRCC at no extra cost. However, elevated risk environments mean this is becoming less common. Property insurers have begun excluding or restricting SRCC coverage from their policies, as noted by Cara Brown, deputy head of terrorism and political violence at Chubb.

SRCC coverage is generally added to other insurance policies, but there’s evidence that the rise in such risks is prompting companies to seek specific cover. Howden Re reported back in 2023 that insurers were starting to charge “significant additional premiums” for SRCC coverage, particularly affecting retail assets.

Over two-thirds of multinational corporations already utilize political risk modeling tools, a trend that Howden Re indicates is on the rise. In 2024, Lloyd’s of London — the 338-year-old insurance market — assigned SRCC risk its own code. In 2025, Verisk released its first SRCC catastrophe model, focused on the US market.

Reinsurer Swiss Re noted that it received only a “couple dozen SRCC claims in the early 2000s, which gradually increased into the hundreds. We have continued to see a couple hundred per year in recent years,” indicating a clear market trend.

A Changing US

In the US, several data-tracking services show that the number of political protests is on the rise. Meanwhile, perceptions of the US are changing, according to Stephen M. Davis, senior fellow at Harvard Law School’s program on corporate governance.

Viewing the US as a “safe haven” is becoming a thing of the past due to the “policy volatility” that now exists, which is evident both internally and externally.

This sentiment is reflected in markets, as some institutional investors in Europe seek ways to reduce their exposure to the US.

For insurers, calculating reliable loss risks is proving challenging, as protests don’t always lead to property damage. For instance, in Minnesota, protests following the deaths of two US citizens resulted in “limited direct impacts on commercial property or private property so far,” according to Soltvedt.

Despite this, the overall pace of growth in SRCC suggests that the probability of a single event resulting in more than $5 billion in losses can no longer be ignored, as noted by Verisk Maplecroft. In some areas, SRCC loss risks may even exceed those posed by natural catastrophes.

SRCC as a standalone insurance product “used to be a very niche, small class of business,” remarked Srdjan Todorovic, head of political violence and hostile environment solutions at Allianz Commercial. However, significant events in recent years have “hit the industry pretty badly and sobered up the market.”

Related:

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.

A category of insurance risk that hardly existed a little over a decade ago has morphed into a meaningful source of losses for the industry.

Claims tied to SRCC — strikes, riots, and civil commotion — are emerging as a growing headache for insurers as episodes of unrest increasingly lead to the destruction of property in Western democracies. Howden Re estimates that insured losses related to SRCC soared from negligible levels in 2013 to more than $8 billion between 2020 and 2024.

SRCC losses are prone to huge swings between years, with single events often changing the landscape significantly. After relatively few claims globally in 2025, Howden Re told Bloomberg it’s now expecting the US to see a clear increase in SRCC losses this year.

“We live in a time of heightened risk,” said David Flandro, head of industry analysis and strategic advisory at Howden Re. The flare-ups making news headlines in the US are “clearly indicative of a broader trend,” he added.

Civil unrest is on the rise globally, coinciding with a measurable increase in levels of inequality and polarization in some of the world’s richest countries. In many Western nations, the majority of citizens no longer expect to see any growth in generational wealth, according to the Pew Research Center.

Rising political division is adding to SRCC risks in both Europe and the US, as noted by Verisk Maplecroft. However, the sharpest increase in protest sizes is taking place in the US, according to their December report.

Read more: Predictive Model Delivers Insights as Insurers, Reinsurers Brace for More Civil Unrest

When it comes to ranking countries with the greatest SRCC risk, the US is the No. 1 Western democracy and sits at No. 5 overall, ahead of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, according to first-quarter data from Verisk Maplecroft. France ranks seventh. SRCC models consider not just the risk of unrest but also the cost of replacing damaged property.

“It’s fair to say that the SRCC risk landscape has fundamentally changed,” stated Torbjorn Soltvedt, associate director of political violence at Verisk.

For a long time, insurers offered protection against SRCC at no extra cost. However, elevated risk environments mean this is becoming less common. Property insurers have begun excluding or restricting SRCC coverage from their policies, as noted by Cara Brown, deputy head of terrorism and political violence at Chubb.

SRCC coverage is generally added to other insurance policies, but there’s evidence that the rise in such risks is prompting companies to seek specific cover. Howden Re reported back in 2023 that insurers were starting to charge “significant additional premiums” for SRCC coverage, particularly affecting retail assets.

Over two-thirds of multinational corporations already utilize political risk modeling tools, a trend that Howden Re indicates is on the rise. In 2024, Lloyd’s of London — the 338-year-old insurance market — assigned SRCC risk its own code. In 2025, Verisk released its first SRCC catastrophe model, focused on the US market.

Reinsurer Swiss Re noted that it received only a “couple dozen SRCC claims in the early 2000s, which gradually increased into the hundreds. We have continued to see a couple hundred per year in recent years,” indicating a clear market trend.

A Changing US

In the US, several data-tracking services show that the number of political protests is on the rise. Meanwhile, perceptions of the US are changing, according to Stephen M. Davis, senior fellow at Harvard Law School’s program on corporate governance.

Viewing the US as a “safe haven” is becoming a thing of the past due to the “policy volatility” that now exists, which is evident both internally and externally.

This sentiment is reflected in markets, as some institutional investors in Europe seek ways to reduce their exposure to the US.

For insurers, calculating reliable loss risks is proving challenging, as protests don’t always lead to property damage. For instance, in Minnesota, protests following the deaths of two US citizens resulted in “limited direct impacts on commercial property or private property so far,” according to Soltvedt.

Despite this, the overall pace of growth in SRCC suggests that the probability of a single event resulting in more than $5 billion in losses can no longer be ignored, as noted by Verisk Maplecroft. In some areas, SRCC loss risks may even exceed those posed by natural catastrophes.

SRCC as a standalone insurance product “used to be a very niche, small class of business,” remarked Srdjan Todorovic, head of political violence and hostile environment solutions at Allianz Commercial. However, significant events in recent years have “hit the industry pretty badly and sobered up the market.”

Related:

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.