2020 Industry CAT Losses Total $83B: Swiss Re

Swiss Re has estimated that insurance industry losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters amounted to a total of $83 billion in 2020, making it the fifth-costliest year since 1970.

Losses were primarily driven by a record number of severe convective storms, Swiss Re data shows, as well as wildfires in the US.

Overall, secondary perils accounted for 70% of the total $76 billion cost of natural catastrophes, while North Atlantic hurricanes were responsible for around $20 billion of losses.

Swiss Re warns that secondary perils are likely to continue to increase in cost as climate change exacerbates the conditions that trigger wildfires, storm surges and flooding.

“As with COVID-19, climate change will be a huge test of global resilience. Neither pandemics nor climate change are ‘black swan’ events. But while COVID-19 has an expiry date, climate change does not, and failure to ‘green’ the global economic recovery now will increase costs for society in future,” said Jerome Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re Group Chief Economist.