The Strategist

Swiss Re estimates global insurance payouts due to natural disasters at $100B in 2023



12/08/2023 - 05:01



The earthquakes in Turkey and Syria were the most expensive natural disasters for the insurance sector.



Pictures of Money via flickr
Pictures of Money via flickr
Preliminary predictions from Swiss Re Institute, the research arm of the Swiss reinsurer, show that insurance claims related to natural disasters will top $100 billion in 2023 for the fourth year in a row.

According to Swiss Re, the amount will be 25% less than the $133 billion recorded the year before. One reason for the decline is the fact that there was just one significant hurricane in the United States this year.

However, considering their frequency as well as growing property values and repair costs, the cumulative effect of lesser natural catastrophes has an increasing influence on insurers' profits, according to Swiss Re Institute chief economist Jerome Jean Haegeli.

This year's insured losses from thunderstorms, mostly in the US and Italy, have come to almost $60 billion, more than twice the average for the previous ten years ($27 billion).

The earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria this year proved to be the most expensive natural disaster for the insurance sector.

Swiss Re believes that the total economic damages from natural and man-made disasters increased to $269 billion this year from $295 billion the previous year.

source: bloomberg.com