The 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season (the Black Summer bushfires) cost the Australian economy an estimated 103 billion Australian dollars.

Verified by Lenz · May 30, 2026

The Short Version

The evidence supports a widely cited estimate that Black Summer’s total economic cost was around or above A$100 billion. However, the specific figure of A$103 billion is not clearly documented in the cited sources, which generally use rounded wording and depend on a particular total-cost methodology rather than a single settled final tally.

Caveats

The cited evidence supports “around/over A$100 billion” more clearly than the exact figure of A$103 billion.
Different studies measure different scopes—total economic cost, GDP impact, insured losses, or welfare loss—so headline numbers are not directly comparable.
Some high-profile >A$100 billion figures were indicative estimates tied to Deloitte/Business Roundtable-style modeling, not a universally accepted final accounting.

The Receipts

What we learned from the 2019–2020 Australian Bushfire disaster
PubMed CentralSep 29, 2020
Special report: Update to the economic costs of natural disasters in Australia
Australian Business Roundtable
Update to the economic costs of natural disasters in Australia (archived extract)
University of WollongongNov 1, 2021
Economic recovery after disaster strikes – volume two (Suncorp submission, includes bushfire case study)
Australian TreasuryMay 1, 2020
‘The costs are approaching $100 billion’: the economic impact of the bushfires
The Sydney Morning HeraldJan 8, 2020
With costs approaching $100 billion, the fires are Australia’s costliest natural disaster
The ConversationJan 20, 2020
How Australia can navigate the economic cost of bushfires
UNSW BusinessThinkJan 24, 2020
The 2019-2020 Australian Bushfires
Internal Displacement Monitoring CentreAug 24, 2020
Bushfire smoke may have cost Australia more than $1 billion in health damages, study finds
ABC NewsJul 30, 2020
Bushfires could cost economy $100b, making it Australia's costliest natural disaster
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Jan 7, 2020

+ 5 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

AustraliaBlack Summer Bushfires

The 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season (the Black Summer bushfires) cost the Australian economy an estimated 103 billion Australian dollars.

The Short Version

Caveats

The Receipts

Filed Under

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