Worldwide, Nat CAT in 2023 resulted in losses of around $250bn (previous year $250bn), with insured losses of $95bn (previous year $125bn), said Munich Re in a recent report. Overall losses tally with the five-year average, while insured losses were slightly below the average figure of $105bn. Unlike in previous years, there were no mega-disasters in industrialised countries that drove losses up (such as Hurricane Ian in 2022, which caused overall losses of $100bn and insured losses of $60bn).
Instead, the loss statistics were characterised by the large number of severe regional storms. Such high thunderstorm losses have never been recorded before in the US or in Europe: assets worth around $66bn were destroyed in North America, of which $50bn was insured, while in Europe the figure was EUR9.1bn ($10bn), of which EUR7.3bn was insured. A large body of scientific research indicates that climate change favours severe weather with heavy hailstorms. Similarly, loss statistics from thunderstorms in North America and other regions are trending upwards.
The number of deaths caused by natural disasters rose to 74,000 in 2023, well above the annual average of the last five years (10,000). After years of relative calm, a series of devastating earthquakes led to humanitarian disasters. Around 63,000 people (85% of the year’s total fatalities) lost their lives as a result of such geophysical hazards in 2023 – more than at any time since 2010. In contrast, economic losses from natural disasters were dominated by severe storms: 76% of overall losses were weather-related, while 24% had geophysical causes.
Weather disasters were exacerbated by extremely high temperatures, the report said. Worldwide, average temperatures to November were roughly 1.3 degrees C above those in pre-industrial times (1850–1900). It added that 2023 would become the hottest year since temperature measurements began, which means that the last 10 years are the hottest on record.
The report said that the series of earthquakes in southeast Türkiye and Syria in February was the year’s most destructive natural disaster. The most severe, a 7.8-magnitude tremor, was the strongest quake in Türkiye for decades. Some 58,000 people were killed, countless buildings collapsed, and there was significant damage to infrastructure. With overall losses of around $50bn, it was also the year’s costliest natural disaster. Insured losses came to $5.5bn.
In terms of overall losses, the second-costliest natural disaster was typhoon Doksuri, which came to around $25bn, of which only roughly $2bn was insured – an example of the large insurance gap for natural disasters that persists in China. M