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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
ZURICH—Barring a major disaster in the last month of the year, natural and man-made catastrophes are expected to cost insurers about $24 billion this year compared with $50 billion last year, a Swiss Reinsurance Co. report concludes.
The Zurich-based reinsurer’s forthcoming sigma study, “Natural and Man-made Catastrophes in 2009,” says the decline is due largely to a relatively calm hurricane season this year in the United States. By contrast, European insurers suffered above-average catastrophe losses, Swiss Re said in a statement.
The study is scheduled for publication next spring.
Natural catastrophes in 2009 were responsible for $21 billion of the insured losses, the reinsurer said. Man-made disasters are expected to total about $3 billion for the year.
The study concludes that societal costs from natural and man-made catastrophes were $52 billion this year, far less this year than societal costs that reached $267 billion last year.
Catastrophes worldwide so far this year have resulted in about 12,000 deaths, a fraction compared with 240,000 deaths last year, according to Swiss Re.