An overview
Global losses from
natural disasters in 2020 came to US$ 210bn, of which some US$ 82bn was insured. Both overall losses and insured losses were significantly higher than in the previous year (2019: US$ 166bn and US$ 57bn respectively).
The US share of losses was rather high: Natural disasters in the US accounted for US$ 95bn (2019: US$ 51bn) of overall losses and US$ 67bn of insured losses (2019: US$ 26bn).
This year’s natural disasters claimed some 8,200 lives.
Overall, the uninsured portion of natural disaster losses in 2020 was around 60%. Once again, it was notable that only a small portion of losses was insured in the growing economies in Asia. The year’s costliest natural disaster was the severe flooding in China during the summer monsoon rains. Overall losses from the floods amounted to approximately US$ 17bn, only around 2% of which was insured. Insurance solutions either from the private sector or in the form of public-private partnerships could help to improve
resilience, in other words the ability to return to normal life as quickly as possible.
Natural catastrophe losses in 2020 were significantly higher than in the previous year
www.munichre.com