Nat CAT losses cost insurers $50 bln in 2016
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Feb 2017
A number of devastating earthquakes and powerful storms made 2016 the costliest 12 months for Nat CAT losses in the last four years, said Munich Re.
Losses totalled US$175 billion, more than two thirds above the previous year and nearly as high as in 2012 ($180 billion), while insured losses amounted to $50 billion compared to $32 billion in 2015.
Globally, 8,700 people were killed by natural disasters in 2016, far fewer than the 25,400 fatalities in 2015 and also below the 10-year average of 60,600. It is the lowest number of fatalities since 2014.
North America was hit by more loss events in 2016 than in any other year since 1980, with 160 events recorded, and accounted for $55 billion, or 33%, of Nat CAT losses worldwide (long-term average 39%).
Of the year’s overall losses in North America, 54% were insured (long-term average 44%).
The costliest Nat CATs of the year occurred in Asia. There were two earthquakes on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu close to the city of Kumamoto in April (overall losses $31 billion; proportion of insured losses just under 20%), and devastating floods in China in June and July (overall losses $20 billion; only 2% of which were insured).