The insurance industry covered $89 billion of the $202 billion of economic costs incurred in 2020 due to disaster events, according to a report Tuesday from Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd.

The $89 billion was the fifth-highest recorded by the reinsurer and higher than the previous 10-year annual average of $79 billion. Of that total, $81 billion was cover for damage resulting from natural catastrophes, which caused a total of $190 billion in economic losses. Manmade catastrophes caused $12 billion in economic damages.

Total global economic losses from natural and manmade catastrophes was $202 billion in 2020, up from $150 billion in 2019. In current dollars, 2020 ranks ninth-highest in terms of economic losses caused by natural catastrophes in any one year; after normalizing for GDP-growth effects, last year’s economic losses rank 18th-highest, Swiss Re said.

Secondary perils caused $57.4 billion, or 71%, of insured losses from all natural catastrophes in 2020, with the main drivers severe convective storms and wildfires in the U.S. and Australia. “From a hazard point of view, 2020 was extraordinary, affirming the significant threat that secondary perils present,” Swiss Re said.

Severe convective storms “rarely make international headlines” as they take place locally and quickly, but “have been responsible for more insurance damage than any other secondary peril since the 1970s,” Swiss Re said.

More than $1.6 billion in insured losses were generated by two hailstorm events affecting the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, and parts of New South Wales. In the U.S., 40 separate severe convective storms events generated accumulated insured losses of well above $30 billion last year.

Over the past 10 years, more than 50% of the world’s insured secondary peril losses have come from SCS, including thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes, according to Swiss Re estimates. In North America and Australia, SCS are the main loss-inducing secondary peril. About 50-80% of SCS losses result from hailstorms.

The term primary perils refers to catastrophes of larger scale such as tropical cyclones, earthquakes and European winter storms, which tend to be less frequent but result in losses that can be extreme. Secondary perils is an umbrella term for natural catastrophes that typically generate losses of low to medium magnitude but that can happen relatively frequently, Swiss Re said.