Facts + Statistics: Global catastrophes

Global Catastrophes

Insured losses from natural catastrophes totaled $130 billion, 76 percent above the 21st century average, and 18 percent higher than 2020, according to the 2021 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report from Aon.
Hurricane Ida was the largest insured loss event in 2021 and the fourth costliest hurricane on record with $36 billion in insured losses.
There were 20 billion-dollar insured loss events in 2021, the fourth highest on record. Insured losses of $17 billion from winter weather, was the costliest on record for this peril.
The $13 billion insured losses from European floods was the costliest disaster on record for the continent. Aon noted that roughly 38 percent of global economic losses were covered by insurance, translating to a protection gap of 62 percent.
Natural catastrophes in 2021 resulted in a total global economic loss of $270 billion, according to Swiss Re’s sigma report. Of those global economic losses, only $111 billion were actually insured. (Aon’s and Swiss Re’s figures differ because of different collection methods and criteria for classifying events).
According to the Swiss Re sigma report, man-made disasters totaled $10 billion in 2021, of which $8 billion were insured.
Marsh publishes a biennial report on the 100 largest losses in the hydrocarbon industry which summarizes the largest property damage losses from the hydrocarbon extraction, transport, and processing industry between 1974 and 2021.

World Natural Disaster Events Ranked by Number Of Insured Losses, 2023 (1)

Rank	Peril	Insured loss (US$ billions)
1	Severe Convective Storm	$70
2	Flooding	13
3	Drought	10
4	Earthquake	7
5	Tropical Cyclone	6
6	Wildfire	5
7	Winter Weather	4
8	European Windstorm	4
9	Other	0
	Total	$118 (2)

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least US$25 million in insured losses; or 10 deaths; or 50 people injured; or 2,000 filed claims or homes and structures damaged. As of January 2024.
(2) Chart total and amount cited in text may be different due to rounding by the source, Aon

Note: Loss data shown here may differ from figures shown elsewhere for the same event due to differences in the date of publication, the geographical area covered and other criteria used by organizations collecting the data.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest World Natural Disasters By Insured Losses, 1900-2023 (1)

(2023 US$ billions)

Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Insured loss (2)
1	Aug. 2005	U.S.	Hurricane Katrina	$102
2	Sept. 2022	U.S., Cuba	Hurricane Ian	56
3	Mar. 11, 2011	Japan	2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami	48
4	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Irma	42
5	Aug.-Sep. 2021	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ida	41
6	Oct. 2012	U.S.	Hurricane Sandy	40
7	Aug. 2017	U.S.	Hurricane Harvey	38
8	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Maria	37
9	Aug. 1992	U.S., Bahamas	Hurricane Andrew	35
10	Jan. 17, 1994	U.S.	Northridge Earthquake	32

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least US$25 million in insured losses; or 10 deaths; or 50 people injured; or 2,000 filed claims or homes and structures damaged. Losses for hurricanes in the United States include losses for the National Flood Insurance Program. As of January 2024.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Deadliest World Natural Catastrophes, 2023 (1)

Rank	Date	Country	Event	Deaths
1	Feb. 6-20	Turkey and Syria	Turkey and Syria Earthquakes	59,272
2	Aug. 13-27	Europe	Heatwave	8,339
3	Jul. 10-30	Southern and Southeastern Europe	Cerberus Heatwave	5,949
4	Sep. 4-12	Greece, Bulgaria, Libya, Turkey	Storm Daniel	4,730
5	Sep. 8	Morocco	High Atlas Earthquake	2,946
6	Apr. 1-Dec. 31	India	India Seasonal Floods	2,653
7	Oct. 7-15	Afghanistan	Western Afghanistan Earthquakes	1,480
8	Feb. 20-Mar. 15	Southern Africa	Cyclone Freddy	1,434
9	Sep. 3-8	Western Europe	Heatwave	1,306
10	May 2-5	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Eastern DRC Flooding	470
All other events				~6,400
Total				~95,000

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least 10 deaths. As of January 2024.

~ =Approximately.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Deadliest World Natural Catastrophes, 1950-2023 (1)

Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Deaths
1	Nov. 12, 1970	Bangladesh	Cyclone Bhola	300,000
2	Jul. 27, 1976	China	Tangshan earthquake	242,769
3	Jul. 30, 1975	Taiwan, China	Super Typhoon Nina	230,029
4	Dec. 26, 2004	Indian Ocean Basin	Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami	226,408
5	Jan. 12, 2010	Haiti	Port-au-Prince earthquake	160,000
6	Apr. 1991	Bangladesh	Cyclone Gorky	139,000
7	May 2008	Myanmar	Cyclone Nargis	138,366
8	Aug. 1971	Vietnam	Vietnam floods	100,000
9	Oct. 8, 2005	Pakistan	Kashmir earthquake	88,000
10	May 12, 2008	China	Sichuan earthquake	87,652

(1) Natural disasters that cause at least 10 deaths. Does not include drought or heatwave events. As of January 2024.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Tropical Cyclones by Insured Losses, 1900-2023 (1)

(2023 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2023 dollars (2)
1	Aug. 2005	U.S.	Hurricane Katrina	$65	$102
2	Sep. 2022	U.S., Cuba	Hurricane Ian	54	56
3	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Irma	33	42
4	Aug. 2021	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ida	36	41
5	Oct. 2012	U.S., Caribbean, Canada	Hurricane Sandy	30	40
6	Aug. 2017	U.S.	Hurricane Harvey	30	38
7	Sep. 2017	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Maria	30	37
8	Aug. 1992	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Andrew	16	35
9	Sep. 2008	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Ike	18	26
10	Oct. 2005	U.S., Caribbean	Hurricane Wilma	13	19

(1) Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2024.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Severe Convective Storms by Insured Losses, 1900-2023 (1)

(2023 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country/region	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2023 dollars (2)
1	Aug. 2020	U.S.	Severe convective storm (includes Midwest Derecho)	$9.2	$10.9
2	Apr. 2011	U.S.	2011 Super Outbreak	7.6	10.3
3	May 2011	U.S.	Joplin Tornado/Severe convective storm	7.0	9.5
4	May 2003	U.S.	Severe convective storm	3.3	5.5
5	Jul. 2013	Europe	Storm Andreas	3.8	5.0
6	Mar. 2023	U.S.	Severe convective storm	4.9	5.0
7	Mar. - Apr. 2023	U.S., Canada	Tornado Outbreak	4.3	4.4
8	May 2019	U.S.	Severe convective storm	3.7	4.4
9	Jun. 2023	U.S.	Severe convective storm	4.3	4.3
10	Apr. 2016	U.S.	San Antonio Hailstorm	3.2	4.1

(1) Includes severe convective storms such as thunderstorms, tornadoes and hailstorms, straight-line winds and flooding that could occur with these storms. Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2024.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Top 10 Costliest Global Wildfires by Insured Losses, 1900-2023 (1)

(2023 US$ billions)

				Insured loss
Rank	Date	Country	Event	Dollars when occurred	In 2023 dollars (2)
1	Nov. 2018	U.S.	Camp Fire	$10.0	$12.2
2	Oct. 2017	U.S.	Tubbs Fire	8.7	10.9
3	Nov. 2018	U.S.	Woolsey Fire	4.2	5.1
4	Oct. 1991	U.S.	Oakland (Tunnel) Fire	1.7	3.8
5	Oct. 2017	U.S.	Atlas Fire	3.0	3.7
6	May 2016	Canada	Horse Creek Fire	2.9	3.7
7	Aug. 2023	U.S.	Maui / Hawaii Fire	3.0	3.5
8	Sep.-Oct. 2020	U.S.	Glass Fire	3.0	3.5
9	Aug.-Sep. 2020	U.S.	CZU Lightning Complex Fire	2.5	3.0
10	Dec. 2017	U.S.	Thomas Fire	2.3	2.8

(1) Individual wildfires. Includes losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2024.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. consumer price index.

Source: Aon.

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Nuclear incidents

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rates the severity of nuclear incidents on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) from one (indicating an anomaly) to seven (indicating a major event). The scale considers an event’s impact based on three criteria: its effect on people and the environment; whether it caused unsafe levels of radiation in a facility; and if preventive measures did not function as intended. Scales six and seven designate full meltdowns, where the nuclear fuel reactor core overheats and melts. Partial meltdowns, in which the fuel is damaged, are rated four or five.

Selected Examples of Historic Nuclear Events, as Classified by the INES Scale (1)

Level	INES description	Example	Location	Year
1	Anomaly	Fast stop of the main circulation pumps and simultaneous loss of their fly wheel systems during reactor scram	Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant, Finland	2008
		Exposure of two workers in the nuclear power plant beyond the dose constraints	Rajasthan Nuclear Power Plant, India	2012
2	Incident	Reactor trip due to high pressure in the reactor pressure vessel	Laguna Verde Nuclear Power Plant, Mexico	2011
		Overexposure of a practitioner in interventional radiology exceeding the annual limit	Paris, France	2013
3	Serious incident	Release of iodine 131 into the environment from the radioelements production facility	Fleurus, Belgium	2008
		Severe overexposure of a radiographer	Lima, Peru	2012
4	Accident with local consequences	Radioactive material in scrap metal facility resulted in acute exposure of scrap dealer	New Delhi, India	2010
		Overexposure of four workers at an irradiation facility	Stamboliysky, Bulgaria	2011
5	Accident with wider consequences	Severe damage to the reactor core	Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant, USA	1979
		Four people died after being overexposed from an abandoned and ruptured high activity source	Goiania, Brazil	1987
6	Serious accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment after the explosion of a high activity waste tank	Kyshtym, Russian Federation	1957
7	Major accident	Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread health and environmental effects	Chernobyl, Ukraine	1986
		Significant release of radioactive material to the environment resulting in widespread environmental effects	Fukushima, Japan	2011