Natural catastrophes and man-made disasters will cost global insurer approximately $79bn in 2018, according to Swiss Re estimates.
Of the $79bn, the natural catastrophes will drive $71bn of the loss to insurers and reinsurers while man-made disasters will cause the remaining $8bn in losses.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Swiss Re estimates that total economic losses from natural and man-made disasters are expected to be $155bn, down from $350bn last year.
“Together, these have made 2018 the fourth costliest year on sigma records in terms of losses covered by the insurance industry,” the reinsurer said.
Of the total economic losses, $79bn losses were insured, down from $150bn in 2017.
The report highlights that natural catastrophes may have caused $146bn of the economic losses while man-made disasters the other $9bn.
The $79bn of global insured disaster losses is also higher compared to the 10 year average due to a number of smaller and mid-sized loss events this year.
Besides huge economic losses, the disasters resulted in death or displacement of more than 11,000 people in 2018.
Swiss Re in a statement said: “Like last year, the losses from the 2018 series of events highlight the increasing vulnerability of the ever-growing concentration of humans and property values on coastlines and in the urban-wildlife interface.
“The very presence of human and property assets in areas such as these means extreme weather conditions can quickly turn into catastrophe events in terms of losses inflicted.”
