Natural disasters caused 310 billion in economic losses worldwide in 2024, estimates Swiss Re

This amount is up 6% compared to 2023, specified the Swiss group which acts as an insurer for insurers.

Hurricanes, floods, fires… The economic losses caused by natural disasters are increasingly heavy. According to a first estimate from the reinsurer Swiss Re, published Thursday December 5, their amounts should be up this year by 6% compared to 2023, amounting to 310 billion dollars (294 billion euros).

As for the damage covered by insurers, they should reach $135 billion, up 17% year-on-year, specifies Swiss Re, which notes that these costs for the sector exceed the $100 billion mark. “for the fifth year in a row.”

This increase is partly attributable to the concentration of assets to be insured in urban areas and the increase in reconstruction costs. “Climate change is also playing a growing role,” Swiss Re's head of catastrophe coverage, Balz Grollimund, said in a statement.

The group notes that with a global average temperature that exceeds “from 1.54°C to pre-industrial levels, 2024 is on track to become the hottest year on record” what “promotes the occurrence of many of the natural disasters observed” This year.

Losses are likely to increase as climate change intensifies extreme weather events.

Swiss Re

in a press release

According to estimates from the Swiss reinsurer, insured losses for hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit Florida at the end of September and beginning of October, are currently below the $50 billion mark. While hurricanes in the North Atlantic are traditionally the most costly disasters for insurers, Swiss Re has been warning for several years that costs for other disasters, such as floods, are constantly increasing. Since the start of the year, this single disaster has cost nearly $13 billion in insured losses, while Europe and the United Arab Emirates have been heavily affected.